At dawn, the sky is covered with fish-scale light clouds, the morning light is dim, the earth is still shrouded in darkness, and only the blue-black borders of the distant mountains and islands are exposed.
The first person to notice the approach of the enemy ship was the Saga samurai Konbei who had been on guard duty all night on the castle guard. At dawn, the Konbei was sleeping soundly against the base of the city wall with his sword in his arms.
I woke up from my dream and almost fell over. Looking at the morning light floating in the sky, Konbei lost his sleepiness. He stood up and stretched. He accidentally saw many floating objects on the blue-black background of the far island, which were slightly lighter in color.
shadow.
It's a ship, a large number of warships, sailing and making waves, coming towards Matsuura.
The Konbei picked up the police sentry hanging around his neck and shouted loudly: "The enemy is attacking, the enemy is attacking, please notify Nagasaki-sama! The Huaidong Army is attacking Matsuura." Although he could not see clearly the flag hanging on the warship, he could not see clearly.
In this direction, only the Huaidong Army, which had recently occupied the five islands, could send a large army to attack Matsuura.
Hidego Nagasaki climbed up the city wall. He was so panicked that he didn't even have time to put on his armor. The samurai in his entourage were walking behind carrying their armors. There were many samurai who didn't even have time to put on their armors themselves.
The Huaidong Army attacked Matsuura! Although the alert here was strengthened, no one thought that the Huaidong Army would actually attack Matsuura.
"Yesterday, Mr. Yamashita had a very pleasant conversation with the Huaidong people. Why did he suddenly change his attitude just one night?" Nagasaki Hidego was shocked. He never thought that he would suffer such a military disaster!
"Sir, Huaidong's army is so powerful that we cannot let them land on the front plateau!" said the warrior Takezaki Jichang.
Matsuura is a long and narrow peninsula in the northwest of Kyushu Island. It looks like a long tongue extending from the main island. Matsuura Castle is located at the front of the long tongue, and the front plateau is located at the base of the narrow tongue.
Once the Huaidong Army lands on the front plateau, the Matsuura Peninsula will be like a long tongue nailed with iron nails, and it will be extremely painful. Matsuura Castle was built at the northern end of the peninsula. It can be said to be a city rather than a walled city. After the samurai under his command,
Reminder, Nagasaki Hidego came to his senses and really did not dare to just defend Matsuura Castle. He ordered Takezaki Jichang and said: "You and Jingzi go to defend the front plateau. You must not let the Huaidong Army land on the front plateau. Otomo, you lead the people there.
"Shou Torizu..." After giving orders to the guards, I thought about sending someone to inform Lord Saga. That's when I came up with this idea, and then I thought: Lord Saga is in Hirado City, how could he not see the enemy?
Attack? At this time, you can vaguely hear the horn blowing from Hirado Island.
Hirado Island is a single island to the north of the Matsuura Peninsula, separated only by a narrow strait.
The Huaidong Army came across the sea to attack the Fukue Island pirates the day before yesterday. When the troops arrived, it was strange that the Chikushi Kingdom, which was only across the water, could be at peace. The head of the Saga clan, the Chikushi Kingdom's governor Saga Yorigen, personally led the troops yesterday morning
Retainers and samurai rushed over and boarded Hirado Island to observe the situation.
Once Matsuura Castle is captured by the Huaidong Army, the head of the Saga clan, Saga Yorigen, Yamashita Keigo and other important officials of the Chikushi Kingdom will be trapped at sea together with Hirado Castle, unable to communicate with Kyushu Island! The Chikushi Kingdom will also be at risk.
Beat half of it!
Yamashita Keigo climbed onto the wall of Hirado Castle in panic. When he was climbing the city road, he fell in panic and almost rolled down. He cut a piece of his forehead and was bleeding profusely.
Yamashita Keigo didn't care about wiping the blood on his cheek. He looked at the Huaidong warship that was covered by clouds and sailed around Hirado Island towards Matsuura. He felt dizzy for a while and lost his voice: "What on earth happened, sir?"
I personally said that as long as I borrowed Fujiang Island to protect the trade route, a day has not passed, so why did I send a large army to attack Chikushi?"
Saga Yorigen was about forty years old. He was short in stature and wore gorgeous armor. He stood on the city wall, looking at the masts covering the sea like clouds. He shouted softly at Yamashita Keigo: "Why are you panic? The Huaidong Army dares to attack Tsukushi.
Using troops, not only Kyushu Island, but also Honshu and all the forces from the four countries will gather under the banner of Dazaifu to resist! The samurai of Dafuso will make the blood of the Central Plains people flow into this ocean like a river, and then drive them out."
Saga Yorigen sent Yamashita Keigo to Fukue Island last night just to test the Huaidong Army's intention. His original intention was to wait until the decisive battle between the Huaidong Army and the Koreans before deciding whether to stay on Fukue Island. By then, even if the Huaidong Army could
If they defeat the Koreans on Danluo Island, their own casualties will not be too small. They will have enough time to prepare for war, and they will have more bargaining chips.
The fleet of the Huaidong Army suddenly dispatched, bypassed Hirado, and attacked Matsuura brazenly. Saga Yorigen was also shocked. What was the intention of the Huaidong Army? It is completely confusing. Only a fool would open up enemies on two sides. Could it be that Goryeo
Have people surrendered?
In any case, regardless of any unforeseen unexpected factors, the Huaidong Army has already attacked brazenly. It is useless to think more about it. We still have to finish this battle first.
Saga Yorigen calmly stared at the Huaidong Navy warships on both wings of the sea.
The surrounding samurai were influenced by the clan master and became less panicked. However, looking at the fierce Huaidong Army, they felt somewhat uneasy. They could not wait for Matsuura and Hirado Castle to be bulldozed by the Huaidong Army before waiting for other families.
Will the forces gather together to help?
By then, even if the Huaidong Army is driven out, the Saga clan will be finished.
When Saga Yorigen came to Hirado, in addition to his retainers, he was followed by more than a thousand samurai. Coupled with the garrison strength of Hirado Island, there were a thousand samurai and a thousand miscellaneous soldiers in Hirado City, and the combat power was quite impressive;
But Matsuura Castle only has two hundred samurai and five hundred miscellaneous soldiers.
Thinking about it at this time, this kind of defense deployment is top-heavy and unreliable. But no one thought that the Huaidong Army would really attack Zhuzi before. Although they concentrated their troops on the north coast and strengthened their alert, they did not seriously attack it.
It is unwise to think about offense and defense and leave holes in the defense that is top-heavy.
The Huaidong Army's fleet bypassed Hirado Island, which had plenty of troops, and only headed for the Matsuura Peninsula, which was relatively undefended. They wanted to have a clear idea of the defense situation in this area.
At this time, the Huaidong Army had warships stationed at the mouth of the strait between Hirado Island and Matsuura Peninsula. Even if it was difficult, they would send samurai across the sea to support Matsuura Castle.
Once Matsuura Castle falls, Hirado Island's retreat will be cut off, and Chikushi Kingdom will almost be paralyzed.
The naval battle of Matsuura Strait and the landing battle of Zengao broke out almost at the same time.
The front plateau is a relatively narrow and gentle shoal terrain, like the sharply narrowing waist of the southern end of the Matsuura Peninsula. The narrowest point is only seven or eight miles wide.
If the front plateau is lost, the neck of the Matsuura Peninsula will be stuck. The terrain here is conducive to landing, and only some stone embankments are built along the coast for simple defense.
Takezaki Jichang and Jingzicheng each led a group of warriors to enter the stone embankments on both sides of the front plateau before the Huaidong Army landed, and defended along the stone embankments. But it was too late to make more preparations.
The warships of Jinghaihaiying were divided into flat bottoms and ridge bottoms.
The ridge on the bottom of the ship makes it easy to pass through breaking waves and can prevent transverse waves, making it convenient for safe and fast navigation at sea. It can withstand larger winds and waves, but the draft is extremely deep. Among the super large sailing ships recently built in Chongzhou, some have a draft of more than two feet.
Such a deep-water sailing ship has extremely fast speed and high stability. It can also sail through the waves in strong winds. When the wind is downwind, it can reach the speed record of "a hundred miles at a watch, a thousand miles day and night". It is much faster than the ordinary sea-going ships of the world, but
Non-existing deep-water seaports cannot be docked.
Most of the medium-sized warships belonging to Jinghaihai Camp are flat-bottomed, especially the large-winged ships with wide decks and low flat bottoms, which can directly and steadily stand on the shoal; the bow and front sides are also built with opening and closing openings.
The shield wall. When the large-winged ship crosses the sea, it is tied behind the Jiyun-class warship. It does not carry soldiers. At this time, it is specially used for landing operations. It can directly rush into shallow water to seize the beach and land.
The pallet could not reach the dry ground, but under the guidance of the guide, the shallow water where we chose to beach was quite solid. It was a beach and there was no soft mud. The soldiers of the Guards Battalion ignored the cold water in the early spring and rushed out from the large-winged boat.
He stepped down, held his shield, waded through the shallow water, and charged towards the beach.
"Load the arrow!" Ji Changzhuzaki yelled loudly. The fuso bow was mostly made of bamboo and wood. It was large and long. The strong bow could shoot hundreds of steps and came through the air with a "swish".
When the armored soldiers were wading forward through the water, their balance was very poor, and their shields were hit by seven or eight long arrows at the same time, causing some to fall. There were gaps in the marching array, and from time to time someone was hit by an arrow and slipped into the cold sea water.
What's even more terrible is that when wading through the water, you have to maintain your formation and you can't go fast. When you rush to the stone embankment, it's enough for the warriors guarding the embankment to shoot several rounds of arrows.
While the soldiers of the personal guard camp rushed towards the beach, they gathered their crossbowmen to follow behind the sword and shield soldiers. They used strong crossbows with a longer range to fight back with hard bows, suppressing the rain of arrows behind the stone embankment.
The water, as clear as blue, was mixed with a dark brown color due to the stirred up sand and the injected blood, making the war seem cruel and merciless from the beginning.
There were four stern boats on the left and right, leaning sideways. Each of the relatively narrow bows and sterns set up a bed crossbow. Being pushed by the waves, the ship's hull swayed, making the bed crossbow's shooting accuracy limited, but it was as big as a spear.
The giant arrow shot through the air and made a sharp sound that was breathtaking.
The giant crossbow arrow passed through the space three hundred steps away and hit the stone embankment like lightning, knocking up countless stone chips. The stone embankment shook, and the tail of the giant arrow trembled, making a harsh buzzing sound. The defenders behind the stone embankment
The warrior's heart was trembling, and the rhythm of his archery was disrupted.
In just a dozen breaths, the armored soldiers rushing to the beach rushed to the stone embankment despite the scattered rain of arrows.
Except for the warriors with excellent archery skills who retreated and continued to fight with their bows, most of the Fuso warriors and generals guarding the stone embankment abandoned their bows and switched to swords and spears to fight.
Ji Chang Zhuzaki held the long sword tightly with both hands and jumped up half the height of the stone embankment. Seeing a Huaidong Army soldier about to rush up, he raised his sword and slashed at it. The sword was as powerful as lightning, splitting the round shield into pieces.
Two halves, the tip of the knife split the buckler with the force of the strike, revealing a horrified head. When the soldier was rushing to the beach, his helmet fell into the sea, and he lost his life before he could pick it up...
There will be casualties when engaging in battle. There are not many veteran soldiers in the Guards Battalion, but the new soldiers selected from Huaisi Lihu have been trained for more than half a year. They have long been proficient in formation battles and cooperative operations on narrow battlefields.
Seeing the fierceness of the Fuso warriors, they all jumped onto the stone embankment to chop, and then used bamboo stabbing spears in front to block the Fuso warriors' long swords; the sword and shield soldiers in light armor attacked the stone embankment from both wings, and the Mo in heavy armor attacked the stone embankment from both sides.
The swordsmen followed closely behind, using heavy armor and sharp swords. If they took one step forward, they would hold their position and never retreat easily. The crossbowmen were still standing in the shallow water, or looking for openings to shoot from the wings.
, my blood was boiling, and I couldn't even notice the coldness of the sea water in early spring.
There are sharp bamboo branches spread out at the front of the bamboo spear, which is tough and dense. The longest bamboo spear is nearly two feet long. It is very convenient for fighting the long sword of the Fuso warrior.
Fuso warriors often use long swords. Although the long swords are extremely sharp, they are hindered by the thin bamboo branches and it is difficult to cut off the spear head of the bamboo stabbing spear. Seeing that the long swords cannot be used in close combat, Takezaki Jichang stepped back and let the soldiers
Use guns to fight against the Huaidong Army.
Fusang soldiers often use long spears with very short spear heads, but the barrel is extremely long, half longer than the longest bamboo spear, which may be three or four feet long, so they are mostly made of light and solid bamboo. Such long spears are very similar to those of the Huaihe River.
The Eastern Army's bamboo stabbing spears, spears and spears stabbing each other, have the advantage of length. The advantage of length also allows the Fuso soldiers to increase the distance of the battle. Even if there are few people wearing armor, they are still better protected.
The soldiers of Huaidong encountered this kind of spear for the first time. They stood under the stone embankment. They were at a great disadvantage in position and could not get close to climb. They were caught off guard and several people were stabbed unexpectedly. Unable to rush up the stone embankment, they could only use
Covered by a large shield, they were in a stalemate under the embankment.
Ma Pohou waded into the water and walked to the front line. Seeing the frowning soldiers cowering and not daring to fight hard, he cursed: "You weakling, this kind of broken spear can't penetrate heavy armor, I'm afraid he's a bird! Knife!"
The shield soldiers fought, the swordsmen chopped with their hands, broke the opening and rushed upward; if they can't rush forward, they stand under the embankment waiting to be crushed to death, driven into the sea, waiting to be frozen to death!" Then let the two capitals who rushed up immediately.
The soldiers of the team dispersed and attacked the stone embankment to disperse the defenders' strength.
Although the Fuso warriors are elite and fearless of death, they are small in number. There are less than 140 or 50 sword-wielding warriors and miscellaneous soldiers with spears. There are only a dozen archers behind to shoot arrows. The Huaidong Army
Put double the number of infantry at this landing point. If it is not enough, soldiers from the water camp can also be pulled up to fight. If they can't attack, Ma Pohou will have no face to command the camp. The key is not to pressure the defenders.
Fight under the stone embankment, otherwise the casualties will be difficult to control.
"Gather those who are good at archery and shoot at the black flag to push down the people on the other side. Break the opening first and let people rush up!" Ma Pohou took over the command of the sentry in front and stood in line.
In the knee-deep shallow water, more than a hundred steps away from the stone embankment, I personally directed the landing operation. Two sentry generals personally wore armor and held swords, and led the brave soldiers to attack the stone embankment.
Ma Pohou holds a saber in his hand, and he habitually shouts orders while waving the saber in its sheath.
Takezaki Kinocho knew the significance of Maehara to the defense of Matsuura Peninsula. He and Zuo Zi had more than a hundred samurai and more than two hundred miscellaneous soldiers, which was almost half of Matsuura's strength. If Lord Saga could not let the garrison of Hirado Castle
They crossed the sea in time to come to the rescue, but the front plateau was lost. With only a hundred samurai left and three hundred miscellaneous soldiers, Matsuura Castle was also lost.
Ji Chang Zhuzaki only had 140 or 50 men guarding the stone embankment here. The Huaidong Army rushed up and approached the stone embankment with about 200 men. Looking at the warships behind, there were still 400 to 500 soldiers waiting.
After landing, thoughts of despair surged into my heart.g