Chapter 146 Battle of Muyuan
"General, a large number of Satsuma cavalry appeared in the direction our army came from. There are many of them."
Wow...
Lu Xiangsheng stood up, threw away the can in his hand and scolded: "I am being followed and I don't know it. The scout team will be punished. Send the order, the whole army mounts up and takes action immediately..."
"Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang..."
"Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang..."
The cavalry team coming from Hatano was discovered. The 400 cavalry in his hands were the entire cavalry force of the Satsuma Domain. He did not dare to bury them here. After discovering the sound of gunfire, he immediately ordered people to go to the city to report the news, and he took it with him. The cavalry began to circle with Lu Xiangsheng.
Lu Xiangsheng, who had considerable military acumen, also discovered this, and ordered Liu Xiang: "Send a company of men and horses to fight them, and warn them not to take the initiative to attack. The rest will all march towards the city."
"yes..."
At this moment, the city of Satsuma Domain was already in chaos. Because the Ming army was discovered in Muhara, the entire city was under high martial law, and all the people surrounding the city were moved to the city.
General Shimazu Shigeki led the remaining 5,000 men in the city out of the city, preparing to destroy the Ming army that entered alone in Muhara, and sent people to Kagoshima Castle quickly to ask Kagoshima Kuji, the son of Kagoshima Kutaka. He led the two thousand troops stationed at Kagoshima Castle to quickly come to the city for support.
The distance between this city and Kagoshima Castle is only ten miles, and the maximum time to gather the troops will not exceed two hours.
"The Ming people came alone. They must have bypassed my army. Their troops are not too large. As long as they are held back, until the reinforcements arrive, we will give these arrogant Ming people a head-on blow."
After Shimazu Shigeki heard what Shimazu Tadahashi said, he rode away quickly. When he was setting up his position in Muhara, the forward scout team happened to come to report that a large number of cavalry were coming out of Muhara Mountain. When they arrived at the main formation, the most The time of a stick of incense.
Shimazu Shigeki waved his fan and ordered his soldiers to set up their horses on the plain as soon as possible, put up fences, scatter iron caltrops, and lay out horse ropes, preparing to give these brave Ming people a heavy blow at the exit from Muyuan. hit.
Shimazu Tadayō's troops also marched very fast, because it was related to the safety of the Shimazu clan's own city. They arrived at Kagoshima Castle after a day and night of urgent marching. The lord of the city was originally Kagoshima Kutaka, but at this moment, the Kagoshima family has not yet After receiving the news that the family governor Kudaka was killed in Ryukyu, Tadaro could only ask Kudaka's eldest son Kuji to come and make arrangements.
When Shimazu Tadaro had just ordered Kagoshima Kutaka to lead the Kagoshima Castle defenders to the city to wait for the news, the cavalry from the city who came to deliver the order had already arrived. Shimazu Tadaro, who had learned the news, did not dare to delay for a moment, letting Kagoshima Yamakuji gathered the troops first, and he had to leave early to support Shimazu Shigeki in Makihara, while Kawasama Kuji said he would go to Makihara quickly.
At this moment, if anyone sends out a surprise force to attack the Satsuma Domain city, then the city will completely collapse with only a few hundred people holding on.
...
"Dismount, the vanguard company moves forward, prepare to fight."
Lu Xiangsheng arranged calmly. He could clearly see the horses that had been deployed not far away from the plain. With the help of the telescope, he could see more clearly. The opponent's number was about the same as his, and there were cavalry behind him. Following him, he thought his whereabouts had been exposed.
"General..." The scouts came on horseback: "General, a large number of Satsuma troops were found in the southeast."
"We are surrounded?" Liu Xiang exclaimed in shock, but his many years of military career allowed him to calm down: "General Lu, something is wrong. As soon as we left the Muyuan Mountains, the Japanese troops came close to us. It seems that before we set off, It might be discovered soon.”
Although Lu Xiangsheng was a civilian-turned-military general, he really had the demeanor of a commander. He did not panic at all. He raised his telescope and once again observed the Satsuma Army position directly opposite. Then he put away the telescope and said, "Send the order, and the soldiers in the rear group will dismount immediately and march along the road." Digging trenches for our army's position, the left wing company is responsible for the safety of the rear wing, and must not take the initiative to attack without the general's order;
Brigadier Liu, the Satsuma reinforcements coming to support from the right wing will be left to you. Remember, you must not act rashly. "
"General Lu, are you going to rush into battle?" Liu Xiang felt a little bit uneasy.
Lu Xiangsheng nodded and waved the big knife in his hand. This knife was made of fine steel made in a workshop and weighed fifty-four kilograms. However, even though Lu Xiangsheng was a scholar, the swordsmanship passed down from his family made this knife The fifty-four-pound sword was as light as a watermelon knife in his hand.
"Brigadier Liu, I will leave this formation to you. I will lead a regiment of men and horses to charge into the formation personally. If you see me trapped in it, remember that you must not leave the formation without receiving the signal flare I sent. Otherwise, military law will be engaged. "
Liu Xiang took a deep breath: "Yes, I will obey the order..."
Shigeki Shimazu didn't know that Shimazu Tadayō's army had arrived, so he only took a stand at Makihara Pass. They didn't have a telescope in their hands, and they couldn't see what was happening on the other side at a distance of three miles, but the earth He could clearly feel the trembling.
Opening the mask on his face, he stood up anxiously holding a round fan and asked the soldiers around him: "Did the enemy launch an attack?"
"Sir, the enemy cavalry is coming..."
"The iron artillery team is ready."
Shimazu Shigeki made arrangements. Even if his opponent had a large number of cavalry, he was still confident that he would be able to defeat the cavalry in the first round.
After all, the 1,300 cavalrymen who charged into battle during Hideyoshi's Kyushu expedition did not disperse the Satsuma army, not to mention that today is different from the past.
Lu Xiangsheng rushed to the front with his fast horse. When he saw that he was about to arrive in front of Juma, he suddenly led the team to spread out. He was not a fool, let alone a reckless man. He wanted to make full use of the strengths of the Dingwu Army to fight. Although the Dingwu Army was there There was equestrian training during the training, but the skills of charging into battle were not taught. In other words, the Dingwu Army only knew how to ride horses, and it was impossible for them to fight like Tatars on horseback.
Shimazu Shigeki was about to give an order, but was stopped by the sudden change of the Ming army. It seemed that the Ming people were not stupid. They knew that the front was too dangerous and prepared to attack from both wings.
However, Shimazu Shigeki, who had been well prepared, had already guarded two thousand soldiers on each wing. At best, these Ming troops came with less than 2,000 men. If they wanted to break through the fully prepared main formation, they would have to pay a heavy price.
"Bows, arrows and spears are ready, and the iron artillery team is spreading out to defend."
After giving the order, the Satsuma troops raised their guns and arrows one by one, preparing to surprise the Ming army one hundred and fifty steps away.
However...
Lu Xiangsheng reined in the reins when he was about 150 steps away from the main line of the Satsuma Army, raised his sword and shouted: "Every company, shoot freely..."
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
At that time, there was a loud sound of gunfire, and the Satsuma soldiers who were behind the fence and preparing to resist the foreign invasion fell to the ground one after another. The lucky ones died directly, and the unlucky ones were beaten to death by lead bullets. The lead bullets entered the human body and were killed. It was poison. Regardless of the Japanese medical skills at that time, it could not be cured well, but it could only wait for death.
"Iron artillery team, fight back..."
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
The Satsuma Army's iron artillery team resolutely began to fight back, but this choice was equivalent to a desperate charge on the spot.
Of course, the desperate charge would fail, but it also dealt a big blow to the Dingwu Army. Under the gunfire from both sides, dozens of people from the Dingwu Army had fallen one after another. The empty horses could show the Their master had fallen to the ground.
However, it was the Dingwu Army that finally gained the right to suppress musketry. The firing speed of the flintlock guns in their hands was not comparable to that of the Satsuma Army holding old-fashioned matchlocks. After two waves of shooting, the Satsuma Army's iron artillery team again Also unable to play the third attack.
Shimazu Shigeki was shocked to find that even a field battle could not prompt the enemy cavalry to take the initiative to attack, so he drew his sword and shouted: "Front team, attack..."
Since he couldn't attack the opponent by staying in place, he could only choose to take the initiative, get close to their horses and engage in hand-to-hand combat with them. The reason why he did this was because he could clearly see that although the Ming army all held muskets, they did not seem to have any weapons. They were not equipped with swords, which meant that once they could get close to their horses, they had no other weapons except muskets.
In this way, in front of the Satsuma army who has an absolute samurai spirit, it is as simple as chopping melons and vegetables.
Lu Xiangsheng saw that the fence directly opposite was opened by the Satsuma army, and nearly two thousand people rushed out to kill him. He suddenly became murderous and immediately shouted: "My own soldiers will go out with my general, and the rest of the soldiers will dismount. Fight back by training in line.”
"yes..."
More than a hundred Dingwu soldiers who were familiar with cavalry warfare responded, turned around and ran behind them. Then, after pulling away, they mobilized their horses to follow Lu Xiangsheng who was leading the way.
Lu Xiangsheng's horse ran extremely fast. When he approached the first Satsuma soldier in front of him, the sword in his hand was already rounded and slashed towards the unlucky Satsuma soldier head and face.
Seeing this, the Satsuma army also made a last struggle before death. He raised his bamboo spear to block the blow, just like a mantis using his arms as a chariot. The first Satsuma army was cut straight from the collarbone with a big knife, and a large gash was opened, and blood flowed out. After gushing, he fell to the ground and died.
Lu Xiangsheng led more than a hundred people into the Satsuma army's main formation as if he had been given a shot of blood.
When Liu Xiang saw that Lu Xiangsheng had already rushed into the enemy's formation, and the musketeers behind him were still firing at the outermost edge, he couldn't help but become anxious. If something happened to Lu Xiangsheng, he would be the one to blame.
"Brigadier, the enemy is coming..."
Following the shouts of the scouts, Liu Xiang looked to the southeast and saw a large, dark group of Satsuma troops running towards him. He immediately raised his telescope and observed carefully. After a long time, he said with a somewhat horrifying tone: "Enemy troops The number of people is at least ten thousand..."
