When Zhao Xin set off from Ishinomaki Port, Shimazu Shigehao was sitting on the boat returning to Kagoshima. He regretted it so much now. He had known why he had to wade into this muddy water. He and Matsudaira Sadanobu had no idea that those bastards from the Sendai clan would actually get involved with Beihai Town!
"Ishikawa Murafumi is greedy for life and afraid of death! If I had known he was so shameless, I should have dealt with him and the Sendai Marquis together!"
Komatsu Qingxiang, the elder of the Satsuma clan on the side, said: "Lord, what I'm worried about right now is whether Tsurumaru Castle can be defended. The giant ship of the Northern Navy..."
"It doesn't matter. No matter how big the white ship is and no matter how powerful its guns are, can it still be driven ashore?"
Having said that, Shimazu Shigehao was also worried at the moment. After Hokkai Town bombarded Edo, he once went out of the city and looked at the big white ship in the distance, which shocked him out of his mind. He was most afraid of Beihai Town talking to him about Ryukyu, but he didn't expect this day to come so soon. The most important thing now is to return to Kagoshima Castle quickly, gather troops and prepare, everything else is not important!
In the conference room on the Thunderbolt, Shibata Kakuzo was introducing the situation of Satsuma Domain to Zhao Xin, Wang Yuanfang and others. After disembarking at Ishinomaki Port, Wang Yuanfang stayed in Juqiubahama and led other troops to garrison, and did not follow Zhao Xin to Aoba Castle.
In addition, the leader of this expedition against the Sendai clan is the fourth member of the Ichimon clan, the ninth generation member of the Wakutani Date family, Date Yasunomura Tsune, who is 28 years old this year. The Wakutani Date family went back three hundred years. In fact, he was the lord of Mutsu Kingdom's Mizuwata Ri Castle and an important minister of the Date family since the Warring States Period. In the 11th year of Keicho (1606), Date Munegen, the concubine of One-eyed Ryū Masamune, married the daughter of the Watari family and became their son-in-law and adopted son. After that, he inherited the Watari family and was given the surname "Ida".
As the chief spy of the Sendai Domain, Shibata Kakuzo made a lot of preparations for this operation. He took out all the information he could find about the Satsuma Domain and explained it. After he finished introducing the Shimazu family, he also talked about some information about the important retainers of the Shimazu family, and finally mentioned the population of the Satsuma clan.
"Starting from the sixth year of the reign of the emperor, Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth generation head of Tokugawa, ordered the daimyo from all over the world to conduct a survey of the products of each country. After that, statistics were collected every six years. These survey results were recorded in the "Zhu" over the years. "The National Population Account".
Shibata Kakuzo said very proudly. To get this data from the shogunate, he worked very hard - to put it bluntly, it was bribery.
Zhao Xin interrupted: "When was the last time?"
Shibata Kakuzo said: "It is the sixth year of Tianming. Oh, that is, last year."
Wang Yuanfang asked: "What is the population of Satsuma Domain?"
Shibata Kakuzo flipped through the book in his hand for a while, and finally said: "More than 594,000 people."
Zhao Xin asked: "You didn't count the number of people in Ryukyu, right?"
"No."
Zhao Xin raised his head and stared at the ceiling, thought for a while and then said: "Including children and the hidden population, it is about 650,000 people..."
Everyone saw him mumbling to himself, and they didn't know what he was thinking about. Wang Yuan asked Shibata Kakuzo: "How many warriors are there in Satsuma Domain?"
Shibata Kakuzo flipped through the book twice more and said: "There are more than 8,000 corporal soldiers in the city and more than 84,000 rural soldiers."
"So many!" Wang Yuanfang was shocked.
Zhao Xin suddenly said: "Only more than 90,000 people?"
Liu Zheng on the side said in surprise: "Oh no! Brother, more than 90,000 warriors are still too few for you?"
In front of outsiders, Zhao Xin couldn't explain. We must know that during the late Tokugawa period in another time and space, the number of Satsuma feudal lords peaked at more than 200,000, accounting for 26% of the total population. It was the early days of the Bakumatsu period, and more than 90,000 people were certainly not too many.
Zhao Xin ignored Liu Zheng and continued to ask Shibata Kakuzo: "How many foothills are there in the Satsuma Domain?"
Shibata Kakuzo said: "The latest number cannot be found, but the number in Kanei's sixteenth year is eighty-seven."
Zhao Xin rolled his eyes after hearing this. This is data from a hundred and fifty years ago. You have the nerve to show it!
Liu Zheng stayed in the island country for a few months and did some research on the shogunate's system. At this time, he asked in great surprise: "Is Lu a magic horse?"
Zhao Xin said calmly: "Lu is not an object, nor can it be said to be a city, but a village-like armed stronghold..."
Next, Zhao Xin explained to Liu Zheng and Wang Yuanfang what "麓" is.
It is said that the Satsuma clan in the Edo period was affiliated with the Western Army in the "Battle of Sekigahara", so even if it surrendered afterwards, it was always wary of the Tokugawa shogunate. At that time, they faced the "one country, one city" order of the second generation of Tokugawa, and adopted a curved approach to save the country. That is, in addition to the main city of Tsurumaru Castle, the samurai under his command were dispatched to various important places in the domain. Under the ruins of the old mountain castle, a defense stronghold called "Roku" was built, forming a defense base spread throughout the domain. Defense net.
In the center of these "foots" is a "jitou holiday house", which is the residence of the local garrisoned lord. It is also used as a temporary residence for the feudal lord during "attendance transfers" and inspections. Surrounding the jitou holiday house are the residences of important ministers and countrymen residence. Although these strongholds look like villages, the internal personnel structure and management are actually the same as those of cities.
These strongholds cover different areas according to the stone level of the "local" warriors. The outer walls of each courtyard in the stronghold are built with thick stone walls, and lush trees are planted behind the walls; several streets called "horse farms" are formed between the houses, which are usually where the feudal warriors train; In the event of a war, this street structure is very helpful in resisting foreign invasion.
Why is Zhao Xin so clear? Because the famous river drama "Atsuhime" in another time and space was filmed in Demizuro, Kumamoto Prefecture. Zhao Xin took a sightseeing ox cart and walked around in a circle for a full 25 minutes! The Chushuilu building covers an area of 46 hectares and is surrounded by a moat. It is simply a flat city.
Several people discussed it for a long time, but Date Muracho, the head of the Wakutani Date family, had a sinking look on his face and said nothing. In fact, it's not that this person doesn't want to discuss it, but he just can't interrupt. Although he was elected as the leader of the expedition team by the Date family, Date Muratsune actually had to bite the bullet; after all, the island country has been at peace for two hundred years, and there are only a few people who really know how to fight.
After Zhao Xin finished explaining to Liu Zheng and Wang Yuanfang, he said to everyone: "The number of eighty-seven was one hundred and fifty years ago. According to my estimate, Satsuma Domain should have more than one hundred foothills now."
In fact, Zhao Xin still said that there were fewer. There are now a total of 115 foothills in various places in Satsuma Domain. There are thirteen in the three counties of Izuku, Isa, and Hisikari that are divided into Beihai Town. Because these foothills are stuck on the main transportation routes in Satsuma Domain, if Beihai Town wants to occupy these three counties, all thirteen foothills must be captured.
Date Murasune finally spoke at this time: "According to Zhao Wangdian's wishes, this crusade is not just about capturing Tsurumaru Castle, but there are more than a hundred hills that need to be captured?"
Shibata Kakuzo bowed to Date Village and said: "What Watari Mori said is true! If our army wants to completely defeat the Shimazu family, we must first capture these outer cities and cut off the Shimazu family's retreat route. Otherwise, we will have no choice but to live in poverty." Chasing relentlessly. In the end..."
Ida Murochang suddenly said: "In the end, they waited for work and led our troops all over the mountains and fields until they defeated us!"
Zhao Xin sneered and said: "That's not all. When reinforcements from Kyushu and even the shogunate arrive, we will have no choice but to get on the boat and run away."
Minami Kyushu is not the Kanto Plain. The terrain is high and steep, with mountains running through it, and it also rains a lot. When the time comes when the Shimazu samurai retreat to those strongholds in the mountains to fight guerrillas with you, this battle will become a protracted war.
Don't look at the fact that the Shimadzu family owes a lot of debt that they can't afford to repay. Now Hokkaido Town and Sendai Domain want to destroy Satsuma Domain. Minami Kyushu is the foundation of the Shimazu family. Once the Shimazu family is finished, most of the nearly 100,000 feudal samurai will become ronin.
So this is not a question of whether we can win or not, but the Satsuma clan from top to bottom will definitely try their best to deal with Beihai Town and Sendai clan! At the same time, the Shimadzu family will try their best to survive and buy time to seek help everywhere. Don't forget, Shimazu Shigehao is Tokugawa Ieki's father-in-law. The shogunate will mediate in any way, and even order the surrounding vassals to send troops to support.
(By the way, those authors who bombarded Kagoshima Castle at every turn and then made the Shimazu family kneel down and surrender can go to sleep. They really thought that one hundred thousand feudal lords and more than one hundred armed strongholds were just decorations! Kagoshima Castle was captured So you commit suicide and surrender? You are stupid!)
After Wang Yuanfang listened to Zhao Xin's translation, he thought for a moment and then slowly said: "This is no longer a siege or field battle, this is a street battle, and the casualties may be huge. I think..."
He was halfway through speaking when he suddenly stopped talking. Liu Zheng continued to ask, but Zhao Xin immediately changed the subject. He turned to Shibata Kakuzo and Date Murasune and said: "Sendai Clan must increase its troops! These one thousand people are simply not enough. People must be stationed at the foothills they have conquered. These places will also be where Sendai Clan will rely on to rule Southern Kyushu in the future. "
Ida Murachang said in astonishment: "How much more will it be?"
Zhao Xindao: "At least five thousand! Ten thousand is even better!"
"so much!"
At this time, Shibata Kakuzo already knew that there was an "artifact" in Beihai Town that could send messages across thousands of miles, called a telegraph. So he said to Zhao Xin: "Please allow me to discuss it with Sir Wan Li Shou. As for increasing the number of troops in our family, please ask Zhao Dian for help."
Zhao Xin nodded and said: "Okay, I will ask Pingtai to contact Mr. Ishikawa first. After he arrives at the business store in Juqiuban, you can talk to him directly."
It was already past noon. Zhao Xin glanced at the watch hanging on the wall and said, "Let's get here first in the morning. Everyone goes to eat first and we'll talk about other things in the afternoon."
Zhao Xin and others left the conference room first, leaving Shibata Kakuzo and Date Muratsune to discuss. When the three of them went to the cafeteria to eat, Liu Zheng remembered what Wang Yuanfang had just said.
"Brother Wang, how are you going to fight this street fight? You didn't finish what you just said."
Wang Yuanfang looked at Zhao Xin with a smile: "Do you know what I want to say?"
Zhao Xin blinked, showing his habitual cunning, and said: "Change weapons and tactics."
Wang Yuanfang nodded and said to Liu Zheng: "Do you understand?"
"I don't understand." Liu Zheng was confused. What does this mean?
Wang Yuanfang explained: "Street fighting is different from fighting in the field. Faced with an opponent who can shoot cold arrows at you at any time, shoot cold shots, and disappear without a trace in the end, I'm afraid it won't work for all the soldiers to carry standard rifles. We have to change our weapons."
Zhao Xin whispered: "Not only that, this time we have to weaken the Sendai clan's military strength so that they can only surrender to us in the end."
There are no armored vehicles or aircraft in Beihai Town. There are currently only three D30 cannons on the Thunderbolt, and no matter how far they blast, they can't reach places like Chushuilu. So revolvers, machine guns, grenades, sniper rifles and even drones are all available.
Of course, when facing the fierce mortar fire when attacking those first few hills, the Satsuma clan's samurai would definitely panic and run for their lives in a hurry. But the problem is that now that Hokkai Town and the Sendai Domain are about to be occupied and divided, can the Shimadzu family still go all the way to Edo to become tenants?
After lunch, Zhao Xin asked the two regiment commanders Pan Xiucheng and Hu Ji to call all the battalion commanders and company and platoon-level officers to the restaurant for a meeting. Dozens of people filled the restaurant; a platoon of guards stood guard in the aisle outside the door. Be careful to prevent outsiders from eavesdropping.
Zhao Xin asked someone to find a whiteboard. Based on his memories of visiting Desuiro, he first explained the architectural features and street structures of the Satsuma clan's armed strongholds. Then, Wang Yuanfang, as a tactical instructor, explained in detail to the officers how to conduct street fighting and the issues that should be paid attention to when conducting street fighting.
Wang Yuanfang's tactical intention is that when Beihai Town reaches the outskirts of the stronghold, it cannot take the risk of attacking. It must first conduct drone reconnaissance, and then gather the mortars of each regiment together to project high-density firepower to all parts of the stronghold. Finally, let the troops of the Sendai clan enter the stronghold and clear it out. During the battle, unless the Sendai clan suffered heavy casualties, Beihai Town would never send troops in.
During this period, the chief officers at each level of each regiment from top to bottom must enter the scene for on-site observation after each stronghold is captured, and become familiar with the structure of streets and courtyards; at the same time, they will conduct explanations to the soldiers in platoon units. , ensuring that every soldier understands how to conduct street fighting.
The purpose of this is because the strongholds in the three northern counties have to be fought by the Northern Navy themselves.
At the same time, Wang Yuanfang once again explained the precautions and tactics of jungle warfare and mountain warfare based on the geography, climate, hydrology and other conditions of Southern Kyushu.
Although the officers at all levels present here are familiar with how to conduct mountain warfare and jungle warfare in the Outer Northeast, the topography, vegetation, climate, and biology of Minami Kyushu, which is in a subtropical monsoon climate, are completely different from those in the Outer Northeast. The high temperature, high humidity and heavy rainfall in the subtropical jungle will pose severe challenges to soldiers and weapons and equipment. Dense vegetation will greatly reduce the combat range and effectiveness of weapons and communication equipment, and the endurance and weapon carrying capacity of soldiers will also be severely weakened.
In any jungle battle in history, heavy weapons were not the protagonist, and this remains true until later generations.
In the face of jungle warfare, it is difficult to rely on equipment. Not only can trees effectively block dense bullets, they can also absorb explosion fragments. It is absolutely not okay to throw a grenade randomly when encountering an enemy, otherwise it will be a lot of fun when it hits the dense branches and bounces back!
The biggest limitation of light weapons is distance. Even if the North Korean Navy uses small weapons with a range of less than 50 meters, it still has difficulties in positioning and correcting indirect firepower. Moreover, this will also make it extremely easy for soldiers to misjudge the enemy's direction of attack from iron cannons or bows and arrows, causing them to move in the wrong direction and fall into a very dangerous situation.
In this time and space at the end of the 18th century, walking on foot would be the main method of movement for the Northern Navy in jungle warfare, and it would be very arduous; Wang Yuanfang estimated that in areas such as Aso Mountain and Grandmother Mountain, the daily marching speed would even be less than five kilometers.
In addition, issues such as setting up camp at night and finding water sources are also important. The favorite thing of the ancients in these days was to poison the water. Of course, it was impossible to pour the poison. A few rotting animals were thrown upstream to pollute the water source. Even if the poison did not kill people, they could cause diarrhea and sore hands and feet.
The tactical briefing session lasted until late at night. During this period, Zhao Xin got in touch with Pingtai in Juqiuhama and asked him to go to Aoye Castle to meet Ishikawa Murafumi immediately and bring him to Juqiuhama.
Although Beihai Town and Sendai Clan made sufficient preparations before the war, it was precisely because of this that they delayed the attack on Southern Kyushu. During these days of waiting, Shimazu Sainobu, the current head of the Shimazu family, received a flying letter from Edo.
After reading the letter, the grandfather of Atsuhime Tenzōin in history was so frightened that his hands and feet went cold. He sent people overnight to quickly summon retainers from all over the city to hold a meeting. At the same time, Kagoshima Castle and the surrounding armed strongholds also opened their arsenals, summoned the feudal lords in the city, and reorganized their weapons.
Shimazu Shigehao meant just one thing in his letter, fight! But this is not a stupid fight, waiting for others to bombard the city. He told Shimazu Sainobu that in the face of the powerful Northern Navy, he must avoid the enemy's edge, resist step by step, and buy time to wait for the shogunate's mediation and the arrival of reinforcements.
