Chapter 2381: Four-Nation Alliance Attacks Tokyo
Three days later, 70,000 Qin troops arrived outside Tokyo and set up camp ten miles outside the city.
There are obviously 100,000 troops in Tokyo City, but facing the 70,000 Qin troops outside the city, they still dare not go out to fight, even if most of them are Qin Xiejun.
The Tokyo city of this era is not the Tokyo of later generations.
Tokyo in later generations was located in the Kanto Plain and near Tokyo Bay. It was a city by the sea.
Today's Tokyo City is located in Owari Province, Nobi Plains, and is not close to the sea.
The two cities just have the same name, they are not the same city.
Tokyo City was not originally called this name, but was called Seiju City, which was the place where Oda Nobunaga started.
In the process of Oda Nobunaga's founding, he moved the capital many times, and Qingzhou City also lost its original political status.
After conquering the Kinki Plain in the west and the Kanto Plain in the east, the Nobi Plain became the center of the country.
Seeing this, Oda Nobunaga moved the capital back to Qingzhou City, immigrated on a large scale, and expanded the city.
After the establishment of the Japanese Empire, Qingzhou City naturally became the capital, and was later renamed Tokyo by Oda Nobunaga, meaning 'Capital of Japan'.
The original Qingzhou City had a small population of just over 20,000, and the size of the city was not large either. Even among the Japanese, it was only above average.
But after becoming the capital of Japan and being renamed Tokyo, under the vigorous governance of Oda Nobunaga, Tokyo received national resources and began to develop at a rocket-like speed.
In just five years, Tokyo's population increased more than ten times, from 20,000 to 300,000, making it the most populous city in Japan.
Even if it is placed in the Central Plains, Tokyo's population is not small, and it can be regarded as a big city, no less than those of state governments.
In addition to the population, Tokyo's urban area, city wall height, agriculture, commerce, etc. are all several times or even ten times more than before. It can fully bear the burden of the capital and is no worse than the prefectures in the Central Plains.
When the Qin army arrived at Tokyo City, the generals were all surprised when they saw the city. It was not that they were ignorant and had never seen a city like Tokyo.
There are many cities in the Central Plains that are taller than Tokyo. Luoyang, Yecheng, Jinyang, Xiangyang, etc. are all bigger and taller than Tokyo.
But after entering the Japanese country, after getting used to the low city walls and small cities like counties and towns, and then seeing the city of Tokyo, which was no less impressive than the prefectures in the Central Plains, a sense of contrast immediately emerged.
After all, even if you search the entire Japanese country, there is only one big city like Tokyo. Such a golden rooster is independent and stands out from the rest, and it is different from all the other cities in the Japanese country.
It is hard to believe that the city of Tokyo was really built by Japanese people.
"This Tokyo city, whether it is the seating layout, city walls, or defenses, seems to have the shadow of the Central Plains city." Zhao Yun frowned.
"Zilong, be more confident and remove the appearance. This city is modeled after our Central Plains city, and it also uses our Daqin cement technology." Guo Jia said with a sneer.
At present, all countries in the Central Plains have basically mastered cement technology and applied cement technology to city defense, building fortresses, and house construction.
It is precisely because of this that the battles between the princes of the Central Plains are so difficult to fight, and the number of casualties is also higher.
Of course, the offensive equipment of the Central Plains princes has also been upgraded, so that the gap between offense and defense has not widened.
As the first Japanese force to communicate with the Central Plains, the Oda family naturally focused on many new technologies in the Central Plains, and obtained cement technology from Yuan Shu early.
However, the footprints of the Central Plains Allied Forces have almost covered the entire Japanese country, and they have not seen any trace of cement.
So far, only the city of Tokyo has traces of cement, and it was probably reinforced with cement within the last month or two.
Obviously, after Oda Nobunaga obtained the cement technology, he implemented a technological blockade within the Japanese country, not even using it at home.
The reason why Oda Nobunaga did this was naturally to prevent other forces from using cement technology to strengthen the defense of their city after obtaining it. The difficulty of the Oda family's attack on Japan would definitely double.
Based on this consideration, Oda Nobunaga launched a technical blockade on his own family. But what he didn't expect was that before he could unify the entire Japanese country, the Central Plains Allied Forces came across the sea.
It is obviously meaningless to continue the technical blockade at this time, but if the cement technology is announced, it will be too late to strengthen the city defense.
So Oda Nobunaga continued to hide it, pretending not to know anything, but secretly used cement to strengthen Tokyo's city defenses, just in case.
After listening to Guo Jia's analysis, all the generals shuddered. They didn't expect that besides the war, there were such things that caused reflection.
Just think about it, if all the forces in Japan had cement technology and used it to strengthen, heighten and thicken their own city walls, it would probably be more difficult for the Central Plains Allied Forces to conquer the city and the casualties would definitely be higher. .
"So, Oda Nobunaga's selfishness caused Japan to miss an opportunity." Lu Bu said.
"He should be regretting it now." Zhou Yu said with a faint smile.
Zhou Yu's guess was absolutely correct. Oda Nobunaga really regretted it now. After all, the reinforcement of Tokyo's city defense was completed not long ago.
After testing the city's defense, Oda Nobunaga felt regret in his heart. If he had come up with cement technology earlier, the offensive of the Central Plains Allied Forces would definitely not be as smooth as it is now.
However, according to his character, if the Central Plains Allied Forces do not fight over, unless Japan is completely unified, he will never be able to share the cement technology.
"Your Majesty, the Qin army has camped ten miles outside Tokyo and is currently sending outposts to explore the camp, and Zhou Yu is among them." Miyamoto Musashi reported.
When Oda Nobunaga heard this, a cold light flashed in his eyes, and he said in a deep voice: "Let's go and take a look at the city wall."
"Hai."
As soon as Oda Nobunaga went up to the tower, he discovered Zhou Yu and others outside the city. At the same time, Zhou Yu and others also discovered Oda Nobunaga.
"Look Gongjin, Oda Nobunaga appears at the top of the city."
Lu Bu was worthy of being an expert archer, and his eyesight was better than that of an eagle. From such a long distance, he could spot at a glance that in the eyes of ordinary people, Oda Nobunaga was smaller than an ant.
Zhou Yu looked at it carefully and found that he couldn't see the situation clearly with his eyesight. He had no choice but to give up using his naked eyes and pick up a telescope to see clearly the appearance of Oda Nobunaga.
Lu Bu frowned and said, "Weren't Susano'o and Kagutsuchi missing? How could they appear next to Oda Nobunaga?"
"Oyama Tsumi and Shina Tohiko are also here. It seems that they are ready to help Oda Nobunaga." Zhao Yun said in a deep voice.
Although Zhou Yu couldn't see the people on the tower clearly, when he heard these names, his face instantly became solemn.
He thought there were no war-level warriors in Tokyo, but he didn't expect there to be four more warriors.
In addition, the city has sufficient troops, abundant food and grass, and strong defensive capabilities.
Obviously, this city is a tough nut that Da Qin family simply cannot crack down.
"That's all, let's wait until we meet up with the armies of the three kingdoms of Wei, Song and Wu to discuss various matters regarding the siege."
Zhou Yu whispered to himself, and then led everyone back to the camp.
Three days later, a total of 150,000 coalition troops from the three kingdoms of Wei, Song and Wu finally arrived at the gates of Tokyo and joined forces with the Qin army.
The Western War Zone of Nongwei, where the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Song and Wu were located, initially had an army of 200,000. After a series of major battles, although the two 100,000-strong armies of the Oda and Tokugawa were wiped out, they themselves also suffered 50,000 casualties, and their military strength was also reduced. It dropped to 150,000 people.
On the other hand, the Qin army arrived in Tokyo one step ahead of the Allied Forces of the Three Kingdoms. The 120,000 Qin army also destroyed 140,000 Japanese troops.
After comparison, the gap is not generally large.
After the four-nation alliance joined forces, the total strength reached 220,000. Although there were 40,000 more troops than the Oda family, the strength advantage was not obvious.
However, after experiencing the baptism of fire on the east and west fronts and continuous great victories, the combat power and morale of the Four Nations Allied Forces were obviously much stronger than that of the Oda Army.
That night, Zhou Yu summoned all the generals of the Four Nations Allied Forces to discuss how to attack the strong city of Tokyo.
At the meeting, Zhou Yu pointed to the Tokyo city defense map he had drawn by himself and said: "Everyone, this governor has already observed that Tokyo City is different from all the cities in Japan. This is a large city built after the cities in the Central Plains, and its defense capabilities are not comparable. The governance of any state in the Central Plains is different."
Sun Ce, Xia Houyuan, and Zhao Guangyi all knew that Zhou Yu was not a person who knew how to lie, so they all showed serious expressions and were ready to take it seriously.
Zhou Yu continued: "Tokyo is a city that is different from all the cities in Japan. If we attack Tokyo using the same method as attacking other cities in Japan, the effect will definitely be greatly reduced.
But if we attack Tokyo in the same way we attack cities in the Central Plains, it may have a miraculous effect. "
When everyone heard this, their eyes suddenly lit up.
I told you earlier, they are good at this.
Although the generals of the Han coalition forces present had conquered hundreds of cities in Japan, the methods they used to attack cities were completely different from those in the Central Plains.
The reason for this is that the Japanese cities were short and thin, not even as high as their wells, so there was no need to use so many siege equipment.
Except for a few fortified castles such as Kasugayama Castle, most of the Japanese castles could be broken down using catapults, manholes, ladders, and siege crossbows.
But Tokyo is different. Whether it is the size of the city, the thickness of the city walls, or the deployment of defenses, they are all laid out according to the Central Plains city, and they are of the highest standard. This naturally requires the coalition forces to use all their attack methods to deal with it.
Xia Houyuan: "We, the Wei State, can provide twenty catapults, fifteen well lanterns, and two thousand war crossbows of various types."
Sun Ce: "We, the State of Wu, can produce forty catapults, twenty wells, and three thousand crossbows of various types."
Zhao Guangyi: "The Song Dynasty can produce fifty, twenty-five wells, and four thousand various types of crossbows."
Seeing this, Zhou Yu said: "The Qin Dynasty can dispatch one hundred and thirty catapults, seventy wells, and ten thousand crossbows in this battle."
After statistics, the four countries will dispatch 220 catapults, 120 catapults, 18,000 crossbows of various types, and many other equipment for the subsequent siege battle.
Uesugi Kenshin, Yamata no Orochi and other Japanese surrendered generals showed shock on their faces when they heard that the Han coalition would use so many weapons.
A siege battle used more than two hundred catapults and tens of thousands of crossbows. This was completely common in the Central Plains, but it was the first time in Japan.
With so many instruments, even piles of supplies, they can force the city gates open. How can there be an unbreakable city?
At this thought, Yamata no Orochi was filled with joy, not only glad that he had made the right choice, but also glad that he had done the right thing by joining the Song Kingdom.
Just from the number of equipment dispatched by the four countries, we can see that the Wei State is indeed the weakest among the four countries. It can only dispatch twenty catapults. On the contrary, the Song State, which has the weakest military strength, has national strength. It is the second strongest among the four countries.
Uesugi Kenshin's face was full of bitterness. In the attack and defense of Kasugayama Castle, the Qin army only deployed a hundred catapults and five thousand crossbows, but she was already overwhelmed.
She really couldn't imagine what it would be like to have more than two hundred catapults and nearly twenty thousand crossbows of various types attacking the city at the same time. It would be an exaggeration to say that it would be devastating.
The siege meeting lasted for two hours, and it was finally decided to start the siege one day later.
After reaching the agreed period, the armies of the four kingdoms of Qin, Wei, Song and Wu left the camp at the same time. The Qin army mainly attacked the east gate, the Wei army mainly attacked the west gate, the Song army mainly attacked the north gate, and the Wu army mainly attacked the south gate.
In this first siege operation, the Four Nations Allied Forces dispatched 120,000 troops, of which there were as many as 40,000 soldiers operating siege equipment alone.
After Zhou Yu's measurement, the Tokyo city wall was fifteen meters high and its thickness was unknown. The moat outside the city was five meters wide and at least four meters deep.
Therefore, the siege in the first few days was to fill in Tokyo's moat.
There is naturally a priority to fill in the moat, and the east gate, which the Qin army is mainly attacking, is the one that needs to be filled in first. What was attacked was the east gate guarded by Oda Nobunaga himself.
Therefore, more than half of all the coalition's siege equipment was transferred to the East Gate, and the other three gates shared the remaining half.
When he saw one hundred and fifty catapults, eighty catapults, and more than ten thousand crossbows of various types appearing outside Tomon, even Oda Nobunaga couldn't help but take a breath; I saw so many siege equipment at once, and I couldn't help but feel a little excited.
Zhou Yu did not attack the city directly, but first sent Zhao Yun to challenge in front of the city gate.
The reason why Lu Bu was not sent was because last time Lu Bu single-handedly challenged three Susanoos. If he had been sent, Susanoo would not have dared to come out.
Seeing that Zhao Yun had been provoking in front of the city gate for half an hour, but there was still no movement in Tokyo City, Zhou Yu knew that Oda Nobunaga did not dare to fight a general, so he did not waste time and decisively recalled Zhao Yun and began to attack the city.
(End of chapter)
