Chapter 148 Battle of Muyuan III
Lu Xiangsheng turned his head and looked to the right, and sure enough he saw the Satsuma army swarming up. It seemed that the opponent had understood, and the troops of a battalion that rushed in were all trapped in place by the overwhelming Satsuma army, and they could only dismount. Form a formation.
As a result, the entire Muyuan battlefield formed a strange scene, a circle within a circle, and an encirclement circle within a circle.
When Liu Xiang saw that the Satsuma army that was attacking them suddenly turned their guns and headed towards Lu Xiangsheng, he immediately guessed that they must be concentrating their forces to attack Lu Xiangsheng who was surrounded by the circle: "Pass this order to the general, and the entire army is on horseback. , go immediately to rescue General Lu."
When Liu Xiang moved, the 2,000 people from Murakami's main force who had been ordered to monitor by Shimadzu Tadayō reacted quickly. They raised their legs and ran towards Shimadzu Shigeki's main force. After all, they were not fools and did not need anyone to give orders. .
The intensity of the battle has reached a fever pitch. If it were not for the establishment of the Dingwu Army and the new army, coupled with powerful firearm support, any part of the Guard Army would have collapsed and fled at this moment.
"General, the enemy's reinforcements are getting more and more, what should we do?"
Lu Xiangsheng mounted his war horse regardless of the loss of vision because of the problem of vision. He used a telescope to observe the surrounding situation. The sound of muskets had covered his ears, causing him mild tinnitus.
As far as the eye can see, a large number of Satsuma troops are coming from the northeast. It seems that the situation is not optimistic.
Shimazu Tadaro also received the news. Shimazu Tadahashi, who was in the city, felt that the situation was not very good. He had urgently ordered martial law across the country, recruited people to join the army, and issued swords, guns, swords, halberds and armor. After equipping him, he quickly came to Muhara, and Shimazu Just in case, Jin Zhongheng had already asked the 5,000 people who stayed in the city to dispatch 4,000 people to come for reinforcements, preparing to complete the victory in one battle. After all, the people of the Ming Dynasty should not be underestimated.
"Sir, reinforcements from this city have arrived."
Shimazu Tadayō was refreshed after receiving the news from his retainers. As a result, the Satsuma army on the Makihara battlefield alone had reached 40,000 people. This was the largest number of troops dispatched by the Satsuma clan and even the entire Japanese country after entering the Edo shogunate. It can also be said that the Satsuma Domain devoted all its efforts to making a desperate move.
Of course, this is from the perspective of outsiders, but from the perspective of the generals of the Satsuma Domain, this battle will definitely be recorded in the annals of history and become celebrities in the history books.
After all, even the big fool of Owari Kingdom had the ambition to spread military force all over the world.
"Raise the gun..."
"put..."
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
"Raise the gun..."
"put..."
'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..."
Lu Xiangsheng's troops had long since run out of ammunition and were already engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Although they were new troops, their long-term training seemed to be specifically for the purpose of conquering Japan.
Because the tactical movements of the Satsuma Army they encountered were matters that the commanders of each regiment, battalion, and company level had carefully explained to them, so that they were able to deal with them calmly.
Even during the rare hand-to-hand combat training, Lou Xingye led a group of training subjects holding long Japanese swords to conduct 'actual combat' training with them.
For this reason, even though the firearmsman in the formation has no ammunition, he can still crush his opponent in hand-to-hand combat with a spear and bayonet that is longer than a Japanese sword.
In war, when one's own casualties reach one-third, the morale of the army will be weakened, and when the casualties reach two-thirds, the entire military formation will collapse. The same is true for the Satsuma Army.
They had suffered heavy casualties and now looked at each other in confusion when facing the silver-white bayonets in front of them. If they wanted to fight them, they had to use bamboo spears.
Realizing that something was wrong, Shimazu Shigeki immediately mobilized all the bamboo spear soldiers at the suggestion of his retainers and formed a long formation to prepare for a decisive battle with the Ming army armed with muskets and strange weapons.
"Bring me the rest of the thunder cans."
Lu Xiangsheng shouted loudly. With the addition of Shimazu Tadayaro, he realized that the battle situation was no longer under his control.
The remaining thunder jars were originally intended to be used to break out of the encirclement, but on the plain of Muyuan, even Liu Xiang's entire army, which had just rushed in on horseback, was already trapped in the formation by the Satsuma Legion, and no matter how they rushed left or right, they could not break through. This thick encirclement.
In this situation, it goes without saying that if these thousands of people are all highly skilled cavalry, the disadvantage is that they are just a group of ordinary soldiers who can ride horses. It is really difficult for them to charge with muskets with bayonets. .
Because even Chen Cao's original intention was just to allow them to ride horses as a means of transportation, thereby reducing the weight of the soldiers.
The various Satsuma generals in the encirclement seemed to realize that this group of cavalry would not charge into battle at all, so they boldly expanded the encirclement, leaving them exhausted, and finally gave them a fatal blow after they were exhausted.
"Archers, shoot arrows..."
The archers of the Satsuma Army began a long projectile. For this reason, the Satsuma Army that was close to the encirclement retreated one after another, leaving their positions vacant. The arrows flew together, and the casualties began to increase.
"ignition..."
"Throw..."
Nearly a hundred thunder cans flew out from all directions. Some of the Satsuma soldiers who didn't know why even picked up the thunder cans, but the explosive thread on the thunder cans told them that this thing must be the same as the artillery, and they were about to use it. It explodes when released.
The Satsuma army holding the thunder can was immediately blown to pieces. The small stones and iron beads scattered after the thunder can exploded. All the surrounding Satsuma troops were affected, and there were countless casualties.
Lu Xiangsheng couldn't help but be amazed. The popularity of this kind of thing is equivalent to carrying a large number of artillery, and it is more convenient than artillery.
"Back...Back..."
The panicked Satsuma army was so stunned that they had forgotten what they should do.
Shimazu Shigeki, who was on the left line, rode his horse to the soldiers who wanted to escape. After killing four people in succession, he calmed the morale of the army. He couldn't help shouting: "The Ming army is at the end of its war effort. Listen to my order and surround them." If you kill him, you will get a thousand coins for each Ming soldier."
One thousand coins is not a small amount in the Japanese country. Even the salary of a centurion is only five hundred coins.
With the stimulation of the bounty, those samurai took the lead, holding up their long swords and taking small steps to lead the charge. The Satsuma army behind them rushed in from all directions as if they had been given blood.
Liu Xiang and Lu Xiangsheng were divided into two places, and Liu Xiang relied on the hard power of 4,000 men to resist with muskets. The Satsuma troops who fought for their dreams were no more than five steps away from their musket positions. position and cannot move.
Compared with Lu Xiangsheng, even if a battalion of troops joined in, he was still unable to move at this moment. He was under the greatest pressure because he was commanding from the center, and both Shimazu Shigeki and Shimazu Tadayō felt that this person should be like this. The leader of the Zhi Ming Army, as long as he is captured, the battle will be over.
For this, Lu Xiangsheng paid a high price.
His younger brother Lu Xiangtong, who had been following him as the captain of the pro-army, shouted: "Brother, I'm afraid you won't be able to get out if this continues. Why don't we open a way for you to get out? You'd better go first." Let’s meet up with the Marquis.”
Lu Xiangsheng shook his head righteously: "Thanks to the new appointment of the Marquis, I was given a partial force, but it is also an important task. Now that I am stuck here, how can I escape with dignity? Don't say anything."
Sad situation...
Lu Xiangsheng obviously had the impulsive temperament of a scholar. He forgot Chen Cao's words of not caring about gains and losses, so he was ready to die for his country.
At this moment, a green light suddenly rose to the southeast of them, and there were three in a row.
The corners of Lu Xiangsheng's mouth rose, and Lu Xiangtong, who followed his gaze, also became excited.
Liu Xiang also noticed the green light in the southeast direction. Although he could not hear the sound, he understood what the three green flares meant.
Dingwu Army signal flare regulations: red represents military, green represents support; one red flare represents attack, two represents military reinforcements, three represents the retreat of the entire army, four represents a victory for the entire army, if five red flares are raised The signal flare means that the general will not retreat and is ready to fight to the death;
One green flare represents reinforcements, two green flares represent waiting for reinforcements on the spot, and three green flares represent reinforcements arriving soon. Four green flares represent reinforcements unavailable. If five green flares are raised, it means reinforcements are in danger.
When Lu Xiangsheng saw this, he immediately said to Comrade Lu Xiangsheng: "Raise five signal flares."
Lu Xiangtong nodded excitedly, then took out a long signal tube from his horse and lit the medicine line directly.
Accompanied by a dull sound like a salute, five red flares rose in the white sky.
Although Liu Xiang knew the ins and outs of the matter, many soldiers did not notice the signal flares from the southeast wind, and each of them had a sad atmosphere.
But after all, they were fighting on foreign lands, and they all knew that even if they ran away, they would inevitably die, so they all regarded death as if they were going home, and prepared to kill one more Satsuma army to support them, so as not to be lonely on the road to hell.
"kill..."
"Kill..."
Shimazu Shigeki didn't know what was going on with the Ming army. He actually took the initiative to release his defensive position and engage in hand-to-hand combat with them. Although their actions made them confused about what was going on, it played into their plans.
A samurai has never been afraid of fighting alone.
A proud smile appeared on Shimazu Tadayō's lips. After this battle, even if the Shimazu family did not reward him, he would definitely be rewarded by the shogun after reporting it to the shogunate, and maybe he could be promoted to another level.
However, even while sitting on the war horse, he felt a different tremor in the earth.
Hatano ran up with his cavalry on horseback. His face was horrified and he shouted: "Sir, something bad is going on. Ming army reinforcements are coming. Many cavalry, many."
Shimazu Tadayō felt as if he had been splashed with cold water, from head to toe. When he looked toward the southeast along Hatano's hand, a black mass suddenly appeared on the horizon, dyeing everything he could see. black.
"This... this... could it be..."
