On January 15, the Tokugawa family's 120,000 troops arrived outside Osaka Castle and surrounded Osaka Castle from three directions.
The generals of the Tokugawa family seemed to believe that they had an absolute advantage in terms of military strength, and did not even consider the issue of Li Zhi coming out of the city to fight. They chose to besiege the city without hesitation.
The 120,000 Tokugawa troops were like a boundless ocean, gathering on the east, south and north sides of Osaka Castle, leaving only the west side for the soldiers in the city to "escape".
After all, only if a gap is left, the soldiers in the city will flee when their morale is low. If it is surrounded on all sides, the surrounded soldiers will fight to the death.
The 120,000 soldiers are not all Tokugawa soldiers. There are soldiers from various vassal towns, but now they can all be called shogunate soldiers. The shogunate soldiers have small flags on their backs with various tattoos on them.
Such a family emblem. Looking from a distance, tens of thousands of small flags of various colors are fluttering in the wind, as if covering the entire earth, very majestic.
Li Zhi stood on the city wall and used binoculars to observe the Tokugawa soldiers and equipment.
In fact, not all Japanese soldiers are standing soldiers, and a considerable number of them are farmers who are half farmers and half soldiers. Japan implemented a large-scale standing army system during the Toyotomi regime, but with the end of the Toyotomi regime, this
The system was quickly defeated by the conscription system. In the Japanese country, farmers in the countryside had the possibility of being conscripted into soldiers if they had some fighting ability.
The Tokugawa shogunate's feudal lords and daimyō lords occupied the richest land in Japan. With their strong finances, these warlords maintained many "land servants" who were half farmers and half soldiers. Because the martial culture of Japan's Warring States Period has not subsided.
, the equipment of these soldiers even exceeds that of the general Ming army.
Li Zhi looked over with a telescope and found that most of the soldiers of the Tokugawa shogunate were dressed lightly and well-dressed.
This kind of ashigaru is a kind of light armor developed in Japan's Warring States Period. The ashigaru is generally composed of a trunk, a pleat and a formation. Most ashigaru tsutsuki do not have armor to protect the arms and lower parts of the legs, and are thicker.
Because of its thinness, its weight is also significantly lower than that of samurai armor. Most complete sets weigh about seven or eight kilograms.
During the Tokugawa shogunate period, the armor of Japanese soldiers was generally made by the daimyo, and was issued to the soldiers after the peasant soldiers were recruited to participate in the war. Therefore, these armors are also called "godori armor". These armors often have the family crest of the daimyo tattooed on the front.
, together with the small flag on the ashigaru's back, constitute an identification object between friend and foe.
After observing the soldiers of the Shimadzu family and other allies, Li Zhi learned that this kind of adequate breastplates and helmets, that is, the trunks and formations, are often made of iron and have considerable protective power. Although Japanese warlords are very good at artillery.
It is lagging behind, but it has certain advantages in terms of armor.
Of course, this thin iron armor cannot stop Li Zhi's Mini rifle. Li Zhi tested it with Shimadzu's ashigaru gear and found that the Mini rifle can easily penetrate these inferior iron pieces at a distance of 200 meters.
of iron armor.
The weapons held by the shogunate's ashigaru were relatively uniform, mostly long spears. Li Zhi learned from the ally ashigaru that the shafts of these spears were of a composite structure, with oak and other wood as the core, and the outside was covered with bamboo slices.
Like a bow, it is painted to be moisture-proof. The length of the spear used by different armies varies according to the general's preference, usually about four and a half meters.
In fact, the ashigaru holding a heavy spear could not rush into the battle quickly. This ancient weapon could not threaten Li Zhi at all. Li Zhi used binoculars to observe the army of the Tokugawa shogunate, and he was more concerned about the Japanese iron cannons.
The Japanese army has a very high proportion of iron artillery equipment. During the Wanli Korean War, the Japanese iron artillery unit became the main force of the Japanese army. There was even a Japanese military general who wrote a letter when he returned home requesting that all soldiers sent to Korea should carry it with them.
Carry an arquebus, no other weapons required.
About one-third of the soldiers in the shogunate army were armed with iron cannons. This number was already astonishing. There were 40,000 arquebusiers in the 120,000 shogunate army. Huang Taiji, with all the efforts of the Qing Dynasty, was only able to equip 30,000 arquebusiers.
.However, the Japanese shogunate only dispatched half of its troops to attack Osaka, including 40,000 iron cannons.
The effective range of these iron gunners is about one hundred meters.
It can be said that the iron artillery is Japan's most distinctive arm and plays a decisive role on the battlefield.
The Tokugawa shogunate army also had cannons, and these cannons were concentrated on the east side of Osaka Castle. Li Zhi counted them one by one and found that there were fifty-four cannons in the shogunate army. Sixteen of these cannons were small
The cannon was probably a Japanese-made "big barrel". There were also thirty-eight heavy cannons, probably all bought from the Dutch.
Before the war started, the Tokugawa shogunate sent a tall samurai to Osaka Castle to call for battle.
This samurai, wearing a gorgeous samurai armor, rode a horse five hundred steps away from the Osaka Castle wall and jumped off his horse. He walked a hundred steps away from the Osaka Castle wall and shouted in Japanese at the top of his lungs.
Li Zhi looked at the translator beside him.
The translator was Zheng Kaida's special translator, a Han Chinese living in Japan. Hearing the Japanese call for formation, the translator sneered and said, "My lord, this samurai said that if the Han people in the city surrender to Kaicheng, General Tokugawa will surrender."
Only kill the prince, and the rest of the soldiers can return home safely."
"The three vassal towns that fell with the Duke will only have their seals reduced, but not all their territory will be taken away. The Changzong family only needs to hand over one head of the family, and the rest will not be held accountable."
Hearing this translation, Zhong Feng covered his stomach and laughed, as if he had heard the funniest joke. Li Laosi and Zheng Kaicheng looked at each other, their faces full of funny, both feeling that the Japanese warriors were a bit
Can't figure out the situation.
Li Zhi waved his hand: "Shoot him!"
One hundred steps was already beyond the range of the Japanese iron cannon. The samurai thought he was standing in a safe place. But he did not know the effective range of Li Zhi's rifle.
The muzzle flash of a rifle on the city wall flashed, and a crisp "pop" sound spread throughout the battlefield.
The warrior who was shouting had a flower of blood sprouting from the chest part of his armor, and he suddenly stumbled back. The warrior covered the blood from the wound with his hand, and stared at the rifleman who killed him with wide eyes.
He lost his strength little by little, and finally fell weakly on the winter soil.
In the Tokugawa family's main formation, the armored Japanese shogunate generals were very excited when they saw this scene. They rushed to the front of the main formation and glared at the section of the wall where they killed the "messenger".
Tokugawa Iemitsu looked at the samurai who was killed and was very angry. He raised the small cattail leaf fan in his hand and pointed forward suddenly.
"Woo~"
A long trumpet sounded, and the shogunate army began to attack the city.
In view of the fierce opposition from the majority of book friends, it has been decided to change the plot of Li Zhi marrying Shimazu Chinatsu as his concubine in Chapter 569, and instead marry Shimazu Chinatsu to his subordinates. This change has no impact on other plots. Readers who are interested in knowing more details
