But this tactic is extremely useful! Those who can be shot by short muskets must be the backbone of the broken army and can fight. Moreover, their morale was already relatively low, and with the leader dead, they were even less interested in fighting. Therefore, the sailors and pirates became more and more courageous as they fought, and in less than an hour they had sorted out the entire city!
Moreover, the pirates had a better memory this time and did not plunder privately. They just patrolled the streets after killing all the defeated soldiers. It seems that Liu Haojia's beating them up is very useful.
By the time the pirates and sailors occupied the castle, Liu Haojia had gathered the team chasing the enemy back and had them gather outside Tsurunomaru.
This castle tower is also built on a hill, which is the highest hill in this plain. There is a symbolic wall at the foot of the hill, and there is a real wall halfway up the mountain. It looks much thicker than the wall at the foot of the mountain.
Further up the mountain road, there is a circle of walls on the flat ground at the top of the mountain. Inside is the Shimazu family's castle tower - Tsurunomaru! Tsurunomaru is a completely wooden building on a stone base, with very gorgeous cornices and brackets! And it happens to be built on the highest hill in this small plain, which makes it look even more majestic!
According to the Japanese fighting method, it is basically impossible to capture this kind of castle tower without paying a lot of casualties! But this castle tower was nothing in Liu Haojia's eyes, because it had something the Japanese didn't have, and that was artillery!
Standing at the railing of the second-floor platform of the castle tower, Shimazu Yoshihiro was wearing a full set of gear, holding his hand on the hilt of his sword, with a very serious look on his face. Ever since he saw Shimazu Yoshihisa leaving, he knew that the heavy responsibility of guarding the castle tower fell on his shoulders.
However, he was very confident to complete this task. He saw that all the people in the Ming army below were only more than 2,000 people. According to past experience, it would be no problem to defend Tiange by himself!
At this time, he said to the samurai beside him: "Abandon the city wall at the foot of the mountain, withdraw all the guards there, and arrange them on the mountainside wall. In addition, send all the iron artillery ashigaru over and let them attack before the Ming army. Give them a lot of damage! But tell them to be prepared to withdraw at any time.
The samurai bowed and agreed to convey the order, and then he called another samurai and said: "Place all the archery teams outside Tsurunomaru. Once the wall on the mountainside is lost, immediately coordinate the soldiers there to withdraw."
After the samurai left, he said to another samurai: "Nan Shengjun, you and the elite Ashigaru can continue to rest now. When the Ming army attacks, you will be needed to fight back through the wall."
The samurai was not surprised to receive the order because he had encountered similar situations before. Conducting a counterattack when the enemy is attacking is an ideal means to effectively kill the opponent and reduce the opponent's morale.
In this way, Shimazu Yoshihiro called each samurai to his side and dispatched them, mobilizing the entire Tsurunomaru to move quickly. After the defense was completed, he was still uneasy, so he walked from bottom to top again, making sure that everyone strictly followed his orders before returning to the second platform of the castle tower. .
But just when he got on the platform and looked down while holding on to the railing, his whole body stiffened instantly! The reason was not the loss of the outermost city wall, because that area itself was ready to be abandoned. What frightened him was that there were six more artillery pieces in the Ming army!
The Shimadzu family did not have artillery, because it cost too much money, and ordinary daimyo simply could not make it. But this does not prevent Shimazu Yoshihiro from knowing the terrifying power of artillery! Otherwise, these Japanese people couldn't have given Huo a particularly powerful name, called Guobeng!
Seeing the six artillery pieces being pushed into the lowest wall, the horrified Shimazu Yoshihiro couldn't help shouting to the samurai beside him: "Why didn't you tell me immediately when the Ming army pushed out the collapse of the country?"
The warriors around him were also running around with him, so naturally they didn't know about this situation. However, when he was criticized by the superior, he could only bow and salute and loudly said: "I'm really sorry!"
Shimazu Yoshihiro also knew that he couldn't blame the samurai around him for this matter, so he snorted and turned his head to stare at the artillery opposite the opponent. But he still has a glimmer of hope in his heart
Thinking that this kind of national collapse may not be able to shoot to the mountains, maybe they will try it and find that there is no other way.
But his hope was soon dashed, because some Ming soldiers below began to dig holes neatly, and other soldiers removed the wheels of the artillery, put the barrel into the gun case and buried it directly underground, leaving the muzzle Pointing directly to the wall on the mountainside!
Seeing this scene, Shimazu Yoshihiro's cold sweat immediately started flowing! But facing this situation, he was helpless and could only watch those around him completing the arrangements quickly.
Judging from Shimazu Yoshihiro's position, the two middle guns were aimed at the gate directly in front, and the other four guns were aimed at the walls on both sides. Now it depends on whether the wall can withstand the test of national collapse. Anyway, he knows that the gate will definitely not be able to withstand it!
The soldiers set up their positions and immediately opened fire without hesitation! The six artillery pieces fired one after another, and Shimazu Yoshihiro watched as six iron balls flew out of the muzzle, streaked through the air, and hit the wall in front! Especially when standing on the wall, you can see it more clearly!
To them, those cannonballs seemed to be flying very slowly, as if they could stop them with their hands! But that was just an illusion. In the blink of an eye, the cannonball had already flown closer!
The first shell did not hit any target and flew over the top of the wall. The second cannonball did not hit the wall, but it hit an iron cannon ashigaru, shattering his upper body. Only his lower body with two legs remained standing on the ground for a moment before falling down!
Before the soldiers could feel fear, the third and fourth artillery shells accurately hit the upper part of the gate. The wooden door could not block the bombardment of the shells at all, and two large holes were directly opened in the upper part! The fifth cannonball hit the top of the wall, and the splash caused the two iron cannon ashigaru to be covered in blood. They screamed and fell from the wall! The sixth shell hit the middle part of the wall, causing the wall to shake!
It was only then that the fear of the Japanese soldiers came over their hearts, and they let out a series of screams! Especially when they saw the corpse with only the waist down, they were even more horrified! So driven by fear, these ashigaru fired at the artillery at the foot of the mountain regardless of whether the opponent was outside their range!
