"I am the Nagasaki Domain Iron Cannon First Division Obanto Yamamoto Jinemon Shigesumi! Today I will be marching beside the First Division's formation, and I will live and die with you! I only hope that all the troops will obey the orders and advance without retreating. , fight the enemy bravely and gain the reputation of Nagasaki Samurai!"
Seventy-year-old Yamamoto Shigesumi tried hard to hide his inner panic while loudly agitating before the battle.
Even though he has lived a long life and was once a high-ranking feudal lord of the Saga Domain with a family fortune of up to a thousand koku, before today, he had never actually set foot on a battlefield.
This battle, later known as the Battle of Nishisaka-no-oka, was actually the first battle of Yamamoto Jinemon Shigesumi, and it was also the famous battle between him and the Nagasaki Red Tetsu Artillery Corps.
The reason why this new infantry regiment composed of 2,000 fusiliers is called the "Red Iron Artillery Army" is not because the iron cannons they hold, that is, the fusilier rifles produced by the Ming Dynasty, are painted red. It's because they all wear red Jinhaori, red breastplates, and red helmets.
After more than two months of training day and night (no longer 996 or 997), they have been able to form a relatively strict formation. 2,000 people have divided into five large square formations, which are placed outside Xisaka City. , waiting to go into battle to kill the enemy or be killed.
Today is already October of the twelfth year of Hongxing's reign in the Ming Dynasty, and the calendar here in Japan is October of the second year of Wanzhi.
The Battle of Nagasaki has been dragging on for more than two months. The reason why it took so long is because the defenders also dug trenches outside Nishisaka Castle and deployed 12-pound and 24-pound troops in the trenches. A mortar and a cannon. Artillery from the Ming Army could use these mortars placed in pits to bombard Toyotomi soldiers digging trenches five or six hundred paces away. The Nagasaki clan continued to organize death squads, and launched wave after wave of counterattacks under the cover of these mortars and the 12-pound long cannon deployed on Nishisaka Castle. Therefore, the siege trench of the Toyotomi army was blocked two miles north of Nishisaka Castle, and there was no way to move forward.
However, the Toyotomi Army has made some gains in the past two months. Although they did not make any breakthroughs in the middle, they made a lot of gains in the hilly areas on the left and right, and successfully captured many hills. By early October, the Toyotomi army's front had formed a three-sided siege on Nisaka Castle.
Faced with the continuous breakthroughs of the Toyotomi Army on the mountains on both sides of Nishisaka Castle, Generals such as Masamune Hosuka, Nabeshima Mitsushige, Kuroda Mitsuyuki, Hosokawa Tsunato, Tachibana Tadashige, and Tian Yiqing, who came from the Ming Dynasty to serve as the commander of the army, After repeated military discussions, it was decided that on October 11th, we would attack from the position north of Nishisaka Castle on the central road and launch a large-scale counterattack against the Toyotomi Army!
Since it is a large-scale counterattack, of course not only 2,000 red iron artillery troops will be dispatched. In fact, Yamamoto Shigesumi's red iron artillery army was not on the front line when the Nagasaki army deployed its formation - they It is regarded as the decisive weapon, rather than the vanguard of the battle.
Just as Yamamoto Shigesumi and other major divisions were mobilizing at the top of their voices, 20 infantry divisions composed of iron artillery and Nagasaki troops were already on the slightly undulating open ground north of the trench dug by the Nagasaki Army. , two large horizontal formations were set up.
Each large horizontal formation is composed of 10 infantry divisions (equivalent to battalions), and each infantry division has two iron artillery groups (hundred-man groups) in front and three pike groups in the back. Shooting formation - The Nagasaki Army's infantry division is slightly different from the Ming Army's battalion. Their ratio of matchlocks is lower, and the ratio of long guns is about two to three. Therefore, a large group consists of five hundred people.
Among them, there are two iron cannon hundred-man groups, all equipped with Hongxing six-year-old matchlock guns. There are three spear hundred groups, all equipped with the simplest and most practical long-barrel plain spears.
This kind of infantry formation does not take long to organize, so it does not have any complicated tactics. There are only two ways of playing: "shooting formation" and "thrusting formation".
When setting up a firing formation, two iron artillery centurions were placed in front of three pike centurions to form a five to ten row firing formation - because the Toyotomi army basically had no cavalry available, the Nagasaki army's musketeers There is no need to form a dense formation, and Nagasaki Army's Nagasaki Army Chief Tian Yiqing does not expect to defeat the enemy with their little firepower, so he will use the rotation firing tactics of the Nagasaki Army's iron artillery hundred to ensure continuous firepower. Output to attract enemy firepower and cover the assault of cavalry and red iron artillery troops.
After the two iron cannon hundred-man groups, there are three lance hundred-man groups. Each hundred-man group has five rows of horizontal formations. When put together, it forms a large square array of fifteen columns, just like the iron cannon group. They are all "sparse formations". Therefore, after completing the shooting mission, the iron artillery group placed in front of the formation can directly pass through the sparse formation of the pike group and retreat to the rear of the pike group.
In this way, the shooting formation of the infantry army will become a thrusting formation!
While the 20 infantry troops were forming their formation, artillery and cavalry in red robes covering the artillery appeared on both wings of the Nagasaki Army. Although these troops were dressed similarly to the Japanese samurai army, they were all genuine. Ming army.
Ten 3-pound cannons and eight 12-pound cannons quickly entered the position, dragged by strong horses and mules, and aimed the black muzzles diagonally at the Toyotomi army's line.
The Toyotomi army on the opposite side also mobilized in large numbers, with flags flying, trumpets and drums, and the horsemen carrying orders kept coming and going in front of the formation, raising clouds of dust. However, the Toyotomi side's formation was still not completed. Facing the thousands of red cavalry from Nagasaki, they had to carefully arrange their formation, and they also needed to constantly change their formation to cover their ever-extending flanks. As a result, the formation speed of the Toyotomi army was greatly slowed down, and it also affected the placement of their artillery.
Tian Yiqing smiled proudly and said seriously to Tokugawa Gao's Jindai Yasuko: "General, please give the order to attack!"
Hoshina nodded solemnly, raised a "small mop", pointed forward, and said loudly: "Let's start!"
A group of neatly dressed Japanese generals on both sides shouted in unison: "Hehehe! Hehehe..."
Their shouts are the signal to start the attack!
Then the two large drums placed in the Nagasaki Army's main formation were beaten, and several outrageous-looking bugles were also sounded!
Amidst the bursts of drums and trumpets, the front line of the Nagasaki Army's Grand Horizontal Formation began to advance!
At the same time, a thunderous sound of artillery sounded! Tian Yiqing immediately raised his telescope and aimed it at the artillery position on the right wing. He saw a puff of white smoke coming out of the muzzles of several cannons there. The cannons retreated sharply. As soon as they stopped, the gunners started to move quickly. The second round of loading.
The Nagasaki Army's 12-pound cannon and 3-pound cannon fired cross-fire at the Toyotomi Army array from both wings. Because the battlefield was not wide, the Toyotomi Army's array was very deep, and it was almost impossible to miss when shooting diagonally!
The cannonballs criss-crossed towards the Toyotomi Army's ranks, landed in the crowd, then bounced up violently and continued flying. Wherever they passed, the Toyotomi Army's samurai were knocked down row after row!
Several of the Toyotomi family's artillery pieces have been deployed, and they began to fire back. The shells and fireworks also fell into the ranks of the advancing Nagasaki Army...
The iron artillerymen of the Nagasaki Army quickly started shooting, one after another, continuous and seemingly endless.
The counterattack of the Toyotomi Army Artillery Team also began immediately... The guns and artillery from both sides came and went, and soon the front of the two armies' formations turned into a cloud-like fog, and the visibility dropped sharply.
"General, the Red Iron Artillery Army can attack!" Tian Yiqing took a breath, raised his right hand and pointed at the right wing of Toyotomi's army, "That's right there! The smoke there is very strong, which can just cover the advance of the Red Iron Artillery Army!"
"Okay!" Baoke nodded solemnly, "It's exactly what I want, go and give the order!"
"Hai!"
The two horses responded to the crowd, then flew out of the fort, mounted the "Mongolian horses" imported from the Ming Dynasty, and galloped towards the red iron cannons who had been eager to try!
Red Iron Artillery Army, attack!
