With the crisp flapping of its wings, a goshawk glided over Edo.
Under its body, the huge Edo was stained with the color of blood and fire!
Edo is burning!
The fire is swaying, guns are in the forest, swords are in the trees! Countless creatures are disappearing in the battle!
From south to north; from open streets to narrow alleys... figures are running fast and colliding fiercely!
There are battlefields everywhere!
You can see soldiers from the two armies fighting each other everywhere!
"Come on! There are thieves here!"
"The shogunate's lackey! Die!"
"Young people from the Western Kingdom, stop being so arrogant! In terms of bravery, when we Bando warriors were expanding our territory, you didn't even know where to wear loincloth!"
"They're coming!"
"Ula!" (Russian)
"Throw away the iron cannon! This thing is of no use anymore! Draw the sword quickly!"
"Nanny! Nanny!"
"Wait, wait! I surrender! Surrender! I don't want to fight at all! It's Mr. Dashu... wait, wait! Don't kill me! Don't kill... Gu!"
…
Sure enough, the Zhishen people made a fool of themselves again.
Facing the wolf-like tiger-like French and Qi coalition forces, they didn't even engage in battle. Just seeing the enemy soldiers from a distance, they began to disorder their positions.
There are only a handful of people who can truly show courage, remember that they are a samurai, and dare to fight.
As soon as most people saw the approaching enemy soldiers and the blood spurting out, they instantly lost their courage and fighting spirit and ran away in panic.
When many people fled in a panic, they either accidentally broke into the fire scene or plunged into the enemy's formation, and died in a funny way.
Die quickly and reduce the number of borers - this should be the last contribution they can make.
In the end, everything was as expected by Tokugawa Iemo and Katsu Rintaro - only a few troops such as the Kōfu Army and the Fire Rogue Kai were able to be used.
Because he expected that the direct counselors would be of no use at all, Katsurin Taro specially separated this group of losers from those troops who could fight and dare to fight.
Let the former guard some unimportant positions and consume the enemy's weapons, ammunition and energy, and deploy the latter in strategic locations.
The strategic location of Edo... In addition to Mount Atago, Mount Goten and other highlands, it is undoubtedly the "Sanjujukomitsu"!
In order to defend Edo Castle, many gates were set up inside and outside the city, which are generally called "Sansokumitsuke", but the actual number of gates is actually more.
The city gates are located at strategic locations.
For example——
Close to Sujibashi Gate on Nakasendo Road.
Close to Yukibashi Gate on Tokaido Road.
Close to Yotsuya Gate on the Koshu Expressway.
Asakusa Bridge Gate near Nikko Road.
Wait, wait, etc., to name a few.
Unlike Chinese city gates, Japanese city gates are not designed to be tall and strong, but are designed to "make the enemy feel sick"!
The city gates of these important places are all double-layered square gates.
The so-called "square door" is a specially designed door mainly used for military defense and urban defense.
Its characteristic is that the door opening is designed in a square shape, that is, an arc shape, with multiple right-angled turns, which can effectively block the enemy's passage.
The cylindrical gate usually has a double-layer structure, with the Goryeo gate on the outside and the watarumon gate on the inside.
This design requires the enemy to make a right-angled turn after entering the Goryeo Gate to attack the Wataru Gate on the inside, thereby increasing the level and complexity of defense.
You have to make a right-angled turn before you can attack the next city gate... You know, this kind of design will definitely frustrate the enemy's charge momentum, and it can easily cause congestion of the enemy, with a lot of people crowded in the first place.
There is a traffic jam between the main gate (Goryeo Gate) and the second gate (Watar Gate).
While the enemy troops are congested, the defenders guarding the Wataru Gate can leisurely pour down projectiles, arrows, stones, boiling excrement water... causing great damage to the enemy troops.
Because of this construction idea of "making the enemy feel extremely uncomfortable and disgusting", "Thirty-Six Views" is not a tall and majestic city gate.
At first glance, it looks like a courtyard gate that can be climbed over with just a ladder.
But it is no easy task to capture these city gates!
A construction idea similar to this follows the ancient Japanese city defense system.
The city defense system in ancient China took the city wall as the core, and then built a series of defense facilities such as moats, urns, and watchtowers around the city wall.
Once the city wall is breached, the city is basically lost.
This was not the case in ancient Japan.
Although ancient Japanese architects also built tall city walls and bottomless moats, they were even more keen on making the interior of the city extremely complex!
A typical representative is Edo Castle.
Edo Castle is a "の" shaped structure, which looks like a piece of mosquito coils. The interior is divided into main Maru, Ninomaru, Sannomaru and other areas.
If you want to hit the Honmaru where General Zhengyi is, you must penetrate the Sannomaru, Ninomaru...
Along the way, there are everywhere traps that are difficult to guard against, high walls that are difficult to overcome, and steep slopes that must be crossed with the barrage and rain of arrows from the defenders...
In other words, even if you cross the moat outside Edo Castle and break through the walls of Edo Castle, it does not mean that the battle is over and everything is fine.
Rather, it would be better to say that after the Edo Castle was captured, the real siege officially began!
Regarding how to defend Edo, Katsu Rintaro had a very clear idea.
He knew very well that the little combat power he currently had was not enough to repel the enemy.
Therefore, his core strategy can be summed up in one word - "endurance"!
Wait until Aomori leads the Shinsengumi to come to our aid!
As long as the Shinsengumi launches a counterattack, everything will be fine.
Due to the primitive and backward communication methods, everyone in Edo, including Tokugawa Iemo and Tenjoin, did not yet know the specific movements of Aoto and his Shinsengumi.
Not knowing when the reinforcements will come... There is nothing more painful than this in the world.
No matter what, the support of the Shinsengumi is their only hope for victory.
In order to block the enemy as much as possible, Katsu Rintaro carefully set up two lines of defense.
The first line of defense is "Thirty-six chapters".
As for the second line of defense, it is Edo Castle itself.
They are said to be two lines of defense, but in reality, the former is the core!
Katsu Rintaro's idea of city defense is very simple. In a nutshell - all other places in Edo can be lost, but "Sansokumitsu" cannot be lost!
Once the "Thirty-Six Meters" are lost, the enemy can invade Edo Castle in one go!
A battle begins in Edo Castle...then it will be a bloody battle with no retreat!
Although Edo Castle is a famous city with second-to-none defensive capabilities, there are too many variables if a war starts in the city, and Katsu Rintaro does not dare to take risks.
Therefore, he tried his best to avoid fighting in Edo Castle and tried to keep the enemy outside the city gates.
He deployed heavy troops at "Thirty-six Jianfu" and used these gates as the winning point of the battle. Countless elite soldiers and generals gathered here.
Defend the "Thirty-Six Views" and the army will win.
"Thirty-six Seeing Attachment" was lost, and the French-Qiyi coalition won.
Simple and clear combat!
…
…
Edo, Yotsuya Mikado——
After Shinjuku was breached, Yotsuya was the first to bear the brunt.
Yotsuya is where the Yotsuya Royal Gate is located.
Katsurin Taro deployed 200 elite soldiers here.
They held their breath and looked solemn, clenching the weapons in their hands, not even daring to take a breath, staring straight ahead and outside the city gate.
Within a moment, right in front of the Yotsuya Imperial Gate, enemy soldiers turned the corner and swarmed into the middle of the street!
In just the blink of an eye, they turned into a raging wave, rushing straight towards Yotsuya Mikado with terrifying momentum!
"They're coming!"
"Damn it! What are those guys guarding Shinjuku doing? Why did the enemy soldiers leak in so quickly?"
"Don't worry so much! Get ready to meet the enemy!"
"Raise the gun!"
"Draw the bow!"
Above the city gate, muskets protruded from the shooting holes, and the black muzzles were pointed at the approaching enemy troops.
At the same time, behind the musketeers were archers who were nocking arrows, raising their bows to the sky, and preparing to shoot upwards.
When the enemy approaches, with an order, barrages and arrows will fire out!
In an instant, scarlet blood sprayed out with steam, and wails and screams were immediately heard.
The enemy soldiers in the front row fell down like grass, more than ten of them fell.
However... this fierce offensive failed to curb the enemy's momentum.
They stepped over their fallen comrades and continued running towards Shijo Gate without losing speed or momentum.
Taking advantage of the musketeers and archers on the city gate who were busy loading ammunition and nodding arrows, they closed the distance in one breath and advanced to the bottom of the city gate.
Then, they raised their hands, and in the manner of "you pass it to me, I pass it to him", they let long ladders pass over their heads, transport them from the back to the front, and then put these long ladders up to the city gate.
Even before defeating Senren Doji, Shuten Doji had already seen through Katsurin Taro's strategic intentions.
He knew that Katsurintaro would focus on strengthening the defense force of the "Sanjujumitsuke" as the winner of this battle, and try his best to hold on until the Shinsengumi came to help - if he were to command this battle, he would do the same.
Dry.
So, on the way to Edo, he specially organized a group of people to race against time to make a long ladder for attacking "Sansiximifu".
Because the city gate is not high, you can easily reach the top of the city gate by climbing a long ladder.
Soon, the enemy soldiers stabilized the long ladder.
Then, like ants, they climbed up these long ladders.
"Come on!" (Russian)
"Kill them all!" (Russian)
Seeing the enemy soldiers climbing up, the musketeers and archers moved back, and the swordsmen with swords stepped forward.
A hand-to-hand battle above the city gate...this is exactly what they want!
In the vast wilderness, the use of a knife is very small.
If it were a cramped and narrow area, the situation would be completely different.
The space above the city gate is very small, which is perfect for them to wield their swords!
Many of the soldiers in the garrison learned swordsmanship from childhood.
They were fully focused on using their expertise in swordsmanship to chop off the heads of enemy soldiers with their swords and give the enemy a head-on blow.
However... when the enemy soldiers appeared in front of them and the two sides fought, they were horrified to find that they were like the tide hitting the rocks - they were smashed to pieces the next moment they collided!
The enemy soldiers are extremely brave and have an extremely tenacious will to fight!
Some enemy soldiers were one against five. Not only did they not lose, but they also showed faint signs of counterattack.
Some enemy soldiers were stabbed several times and were bleeding all over their bodies, but they continued to fight as if nothing was wrong.
Some enemy soldiers killed several people in a row, and became more and more courageous as they fought. Their facial expressions were dominated by strong excitement, and they did not look tired at all.
If only a few people are like this, then that's it.
But all enemy soldiers are like this...anyone will feel something is wrong.
"Be careful! These guys are very strong!"
"Damn it! Stop them!"
"Damn! How can we lose to these barbarians?!"
"Hey! Don't you always brag that you have the catalog license of Beichen Yidao style? How come you can't even kill an enemy soldier?!"
"Stop talking nonsense! I've tried my best!"
The powerful enemy and huge pressure caused the city gate defenders to become chaotic.
They completely misjudged the enemy's combat effectiveness.
Can't blame them.
After all, they don't know the existence of the evil thing "Decisive Lake"!
Before the attack on Edo, no matter which battle it was - whether it was the attack on Nagoya or the offensive and defensive battle of Hachioji - Shuten Douji did not use the "Decisive Battle of Yodo" and always hid it in the snow.
The purpose was to give the Edo defenders a "surprise"!
The purpose is to allow the soldiers to be in the best condition to capture Edo!
If "Decisive Battle of Yodo" is used in advance, the soldiers will definitely be unable to participate in the subsequent battle due to the side effects.
Now that the matter has come to an end, there is no need to hide it anymore!
Just last night, the night before the war started, Shuten Doji distributed "Decisive Battle of Yodo" to the entire army!
Katsura Kogoro wants to defeat the shogunate more than anyone else.
But...he is not the kind of radical and unscrupulous person after all.
He deceived his subordinates and made them take dangerous drugs without knowing anything about it...it was not what he wanted.
Therefore, when distributing "Decisive Battle of Yodo", he specifically informed all the soldiers of the surprise team about its side effects.
Whether you take it or not depends entirely on your own will, and he will never force it.
As for the "Slavic Legion"...this is not his department, and he would not be able to interfere even if he wanted to.
Compared to Katsura Kogoro, Shuten Douji is not so conscientious.
Not only did he not inform the side effects of "Decisive Battle", but he also deceived the mercenaries of the "Slavic Legion": The side effects of this medicine are very small! You can take it with confidence!
Under Shuten Doji's deception...or in other words, under his inducement, almost all the Russian soldiers accepted the "Decisive Battle of Yodo"!
In this way, their combat effectiveness naturally increased linearly and became extremely terrifying!
Under the fierce attack of the enemy soldiers, the city gate defenders gradually became exhausted and began to retreat backwards.
Just like that, in just a moment, the first gate of Yotsuya Royal Gate (Goryeo Gate) fell!
The defenders retreated to the second city gate, Duolu Gate.
The first gate of Yotsuya Royal Gate was captured effortlessly, and the morale of the enemy army increased greatly.
On the other hand, the defenders... Every one of them was proud of themselves.
They didn't even have time to put up any decent resistance, and they were beaten to pieces... The blow this brought to them was really too great.
Panic spread like a plague.
Affected by this, the order of the defenders has not been restored for a long time.
Even a layman can see that if this continues, they will never be able to stop the enemy's offensive!
If even the Wataru Gate is lost, then Yotsuya Mikado will be completely lost!
Not long after the war started, a big hole was made in the defense line of "Thirty-Six Views"... Such a result would undoubtedly be disastrous.
In the midst of this panic, suddenly, an old male voice suddenly came from above the city gate of Dulumen and behind the defenders:
"...You all stand down."
As soon as these words came out, the soldiers couldn't help but be startled, turned their heads one after another, and looked back following the sound - and saw an old man with a sword on his waist walking forward slowly at a leisurely pace.
The soldiers did not recognize the old man, let alone what he wanted to do.
But intimidated by his fierce aura, they unanimously separated to the left and right to make way.
The old man had no expression on his face and continued to move forward calmly, passing through the array of defenders and reaching the edge of the city gate. If he took another step forward, he would fall.
Then, he made a move that made the defenders present couldn't help but exclaim in surprise: he bent his knees slightly, jumped out, and jumped towards the enemy group below the city gate!
At this moment, someone in the defenders finally recognized him and shouted his name loudly:
"It's the 'Sword Master' Seiichiro Tanani!"
When the old man...that is, the male Tan Seiichiro fell straight down in mid-air, a shining silver snake popped out from his waist.
He pulled out his knife, raised it above his head, and used the momentum of his falling body to slash from the top of his head to his crotch, splitting an enemy soldier into two neat halves!
After his feet landed on the ground, he released his offensive almost non-stop.
I saw a silver light flashing in mid-air.
Horizontal chops, vertical chops, upward lifts, forward thrusts... In just a blink of an eye, all the enemy soldiers around him were killed, and a "vacuum zone" was created!
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PS: I’m in a very bad state today. My head hurts and I really can’t write. I’m so sorry... Could it be that I’m suffering from influenza A? It is said that the flu is very severe recently, so everyone should pay more attention to it...