"Baga, there are at least 500, no, it's a round fire, at least 1,000 iron cannons!"
Holding a telescope and watching the hundreds of rogues who attacked blindly being beaten to death and wounded by shotgun shells from three 3-pound cannons and a volley of 1,000 matchlock guns, the great military strategist Masaki Kusunoki took a breath of the cold air of Sakhalin Island. !
This is so cool!
His 5,000 rogue army only had a total of 400 six-gun guns. It was not that he, a military strategist, did not pay attention to gunpowder weapons, but that the Tokugawa shogunate had strict regulations on the number of iron cannons held by each feudal clan.
According to the regulations of the shogunate, a person with a height of 10,000 stone can have 20 iron cannons!
There are only 20, and theoretically no more can be made.
Not only the number of iron cannons held is regulated, but the number of spears, bows and arrows, and armor are also strictly regulated and must be linked to Shi Gao.
According to the standards of the shogunate, ten thousand stone high can support an army of 200-250 people, which is the total number including samurai and ashigaru.
Therefore, the ordnance owned by the domain must also be corresponding. It can only equip 200-250 people, including 20 iron cannons. The reason why there is such a regulation is to prevent each domain from accumulating weapons in peacetime and recruiting civilians to expand the army when the time comes.
Therefore, in the Edo period, the number of iron cannons that a domain with a height of 1 million stone could legally possess was only 2,000.
It was completely illegal for the Satsuma clan to sell 3,000 six-cup tubes at one time... Of course, the Satsuma clan had a relatively special status in Japan's Edo period. Because the Satsuma Domain was too far away from Edo and had always been a strong domain, it also used the power of one domain to overwhelm the Ryukyu Kingdom and became the only external domain in Japan.
Therefore, the Tokugawa shogunate has always looked at the Satsuma Domain in a different light, turning a blind eye to any violations of laws and regulations.
As for how many iron cannons a feudal clan like Matsumae Domain could possess, it was up to the shogunate to decide.
As for Kusunoki Masaki's Roshi Army, the number was determined by the shogunate with reference to Muishi Takahan. Tokugawa Iemitsu thought highly of Masayuki Kusunoki and allowed his Roshi army to have 400 iron cannons - this was a number that only a feudal clan with a height of 200,000 stones could possess!
Even if these 400 iron cannons can fire, facing the enemy's 1,000 iron cannons and 3 cannons, there is no chance of winning in terms of firepower.
This is how to do? Masaki Kusunoki is already a little confused...
"General!" Maruhashi Tadaya shouted, "Let the whole army attack! We have more than 4,000 warriors. As long as we charge forward and start a hand-to-hand fight, even if there are ten times the number of Qing invaders, we will not be able to defeat them!"
"But the Qing invaders' large cannons and iron cannons..." Kusunoki Masaki still hesitated a little, "Maybe we can use a roundabout way."
"Teacher!" Maruhashi shouted, "The enemy has 300 mounted samurai, and we only have a few dozen mounted samurai. How can we complete the detour? Let's use the whole army to press forward together and crush the enemy with the numbers and the bravery of the samurai!"
Moreover, the number of times the iron cannon can be fired continuously is limited. Now that the Qing invaders keep firing volleys, a few more waves will be enough. We took advantage of this opportunity to rush forward! "
It’s the student Maruhashi who is so good at war!
"Yao Xi!" Kusunoki Masaki pulled out the sword that was passed down from his wife's family and is said to have been used by Kusunoki Masashige. He pointed forward and shouted: "Raise the flag of Kikusui and attack!"
The Kikusui Flag is the military flag passed down by the Kusunoki family. According to the military regulations set by Kusunoki Masaki, raising the Kikusui Flag is the time for the entire army to attack.
For a time, there was a sound of war drums, bugles, and shouts. The four rogue phalanx began to move forward, with the warriors holding iron cannons in front, then the warriors carrying bows and arrows, and finally the warriors holding spears.
All the warriors were wearing armor, and they formed a phalanx and pressed towards the Qing army. They were not together for a long time, so it was difficult to maintain the phalanx during the impact, but the formation was not too big. Although they were scattered, the archers and iron gunners still surrounded the spearmen to avoid being scattered by the Qing cavalry.
When the four square formations finally approached the Qing army's position, the gunfire from the platoon in front really stopped!
The group of warriors who had charged without authorization had been defeated and fled with heavy casualties. However, they also used bows, arrows and iron cannons to shoot at their opponents for several rounds. The warriors holding spears also tried to launch a desperate attack, and were finally used by the Qing army. The matchlocks were defeated.
But their sacrifice was still valuable, at least it made the Qing army's matchlocks overheated and temporarily unable to fight.
However, their three bronze cannons still fired two rounds of shotguns, all of which hit a Japanese formation, knocking down the iron gunners and archers walking in the front row one after another!
But after all, the Qing army only had 3 artillery pieces, which could not stop the Japanese army from coming up like a tide. After firing two rounds of shotguns, the gunners "abandoned their guns and fled". At the same time, the Qing army's musketeers also began to retreat.
Kusunoki Masaki did not participate in the charge, but watched the battle from the rear with dozens of mounted samurai. He put down the telescope and whispered: "Victory!"
Maruhashi on the side also put down his telescope and shook his head slightly: "Not yet... The Qing army also has a rear formation with more than a thousand people, armed with spears and knives. It seems that they are going to engage in hand-to-hand combat."
"That's a victory!" Kusunoki laughed, "The rogues are best at hand-to-hand combat, and the Qing invaders are no match for them!"
"Hai!" Maruhashi Tadaya responded, then raised the telescope and looked ahead. He always felt something was wrong...
At this moment, a chaotic volley of gunfire rang out. This was the firing of three to four hundred iron cannons of the Japanese army, followed by a huge shouting sound, and later the sound of weapons clashing.
The Langshi phalanx in front had already collided with 1,500 to 600 Qing troops. Those Qing troops looked very tall, and the spears they held were longer than those of the Japanese troops, so they did not suffer a disadvantage when they first collided, and they even stabbed many warriors. However, the rogues personally selected by Kusunoki and Maruhashi are also highly skilled in martial arts. Once they enter into close combat, they will definitely win.
What happened next seemed to verify Kusunoki Masaki's previous judgment. The battle between the two sides did not last long, and the Qing army began to retreat steadily.
Although those big Qing soldiers were physically strong, they were not good at hand-to-hand combat and did not have the courage to fight to the death. They were just a bunch of rabble!
"It seems that Karata Island belongs to Japan!" As soon as Maruhashi Tadashi finished his words, the sound of intensive horse hoofbeats came from the left and right directions, and became louder and louder from far to near.
"cavalry!"
"A large group of cavalry!"
"There are hundreds, no, at least 1,000 riding!"
Immediately, an elderly horse-riding rogue who had served as an official in a powerful feudal clan shouted.
Kusunoki and Marumae quickly raised their binoculars and looked to the left and right of the battle group ahead. They saw the Qing army's cavalry divided into two groups. Each group had at least 600 cavalrymen, all holding long spears, heading toward the Japanese army from two directions. Then launched an attack!
"Baga!" Kusunoki Zhengxue cursed, not at the Qing army, but at himself!
He still claims to be Japan's number one military strategist... Now he has fallen into the trap!
The Qing army ambushed the cavalry and waited for their entire army to come forward to make dumplings. You made a simple arrangement, but you didn’t even see through it...
Thinking of this, the ashamed Kusunoki shouted: "Equestrian warriors, charge with me. Now is the time to show your loyalty and bravery!"
He only has dozens of knights on horseback, and they are all knights with poor riding skills - how can the rogues have the opportunity to practice riding horses? I used to know a little bit about it, but now I have almost forgotten it.
But I can’t control that much now, let’s talk about it after we fight!
On the other side of the Qing army, there was no large group of cavalry to stop them, but only 50 Sauron cavalry armed with guns were dispatched to meet them.
Although there were only 50 horsemen, they formed a fairly dense formation, and they were able to gallop at a relatively fast speed, crashing into Kusunoki Masaki and the others.
After all, Masaki Kusunoki was a master of war. When he saw something was wrong, he quickly turned his horse around to avoid the cavalry that was rolling over. However, his men were knocked upside down and suffered heavy losses. However, after completing the impact, the Qing army's cavalry did not engage in hand-to-hand combat, but quickly left the battlefield.
Marubashi Chuya collided with a knight on the edge of the enemy's cavalry formation, and both fell off their horses. The two men struggled on the ground. Maruhashi pulled out his ribs, and the man grabbed a musket and used it as a club. He hit Maruhashi twice on the head, and was about to knock Kusunoki Masaki's favorite disciple to death. At that time, he was stabbed through the body by another knight on horseback and died of anger!
Maruhashi grabbed the opponent's musket easily, and after one glance, he exclaimed: "It's Maru no Cross! This is the six-cylinder barrel of the Shimazu family in Satsuma... Shimazu is a traitor! Mr. General, Satsuma Shimazu is a collaborator with the enemy!"
