Chapter 556 A-cho: Do ??what I can do (kneading) [6400 words]
Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival! At a time when many people are taking reasonable leave, the author is still diligently updating.
The author wishes all book friends a happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
Speaking of which, do you have the custom of eating barbecue during the Mid-Autumn Festival? For some reason, there is a custom of eating barbecue during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Guangzhou... I have never understood how barbecue is equated with the Mid-Autumn Festival...
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night--
Red Moon Fortress——
It's dinner time now.
The air everywhere in the Red Moon Fortress is filled with the fragrance of rice and a festive atmosphere.
Everyone is celebrating today's victory.
Just as Chanupu said to Retannoe before - although today is only their first day of fighting against the Japanese army, it is also a great encouragement to them.
Because they successfully defended the city wall, it was difficult for Kazuto to take a step further.
Of course - in addition to celebrating the victory, there were also many people discussing it.
Let’s discuss the Kazuto who suddenly appeared this afternoon.
"Hey, have you heard? The reason why we were able to fight so smoothly this afternoon was because of the command and deployment of Kazuto."
"Kazuto? Which Kazuto? Is it that Majima Goro?"
"I don't think so. He seems to be a very old man."
"Speaking of which, where has Goro Majima gone? Why can't I see him lately?"
"who knows."
"No wonder the fight feels much easier this afternoon...it turns out that someone else is in charge of commanding and deploying..."
"Kazuto...when did our Heye Zhe get such an old Kazuto?"
"have no idea."
"Can Kazuto be trusted?"
"How do I know...but since Mr. Chanup can be entrusted with an important task, he should be trustworthy."
"Then why does Lao He want to help us? If he is helping us, he is going against his own compatriots, right?"
"Maybe he has a grudge against the Edo shogunate. It doesn't matter what his reason for assisting us is, as long as he can help us!"
…
…
Retanno Eben stayed quietly in an inconspicuous corner, eating dinner in silence.
But at this moment, he suddenly saw several familiar figures walking towards him.
"Retannoe, I finally found you."
"What?" Retannoe asked.
These people all have considerable status within Heye Zhe, and like him, they are also the backbone of the "main war faction".
"What happened to the person in charge of commanding and dispatching who suddenly appeared this afternoon? Where did that person come from? Please explain it to us."
Retannoe: "That man has always been with us in Heyezhen."
He used the simplest possible sentences to explain where Lin Ziping came from and the whole story of his decision to fight side by side with them.
"...I asked that Lin Ziping afterward."
Retannoe added.
"I asked him: had he ever been a general in the He army?"
"He said that he had never spent a day in the Japanese army. He just loved reading military books since he was a child, and he also studied the military strategies of the Europeans, so he knew what to do in a fortress built by the Lucians.
To defend."
"Europeans? What is that?"
"From what Lin Ziping said, it seems that they are a people from the far west who live on the other side of the sea. The Lucians are a branch of the Europa people."
Someone breathed a sigh of relief: "Great... We just lack people who know how to defend this kind of fortress... That Lin Ziping showed up just in time..."
"...Retan Noe." Another person suddenly said at this time, "Is that Lin Ziping... trustworthy? He is Kazuto after all..."
"Ha." As soon as the man finished speaking, Retannoe sneered, "We can only trust him now. Otherwise, what else can we do? Throw him aside and continue to reproduce this morning.
That kind of hectic battle?”
"We don't have the energy to pick and choose now. Anyone who can be used, whether he is Kazuto or a Lucian, must be used together."
"But don't worry. Chanup and I will always keep an eye on him."
"If he did anything suspicious..."
Retannoe raised his hand and pointed it at his head, making an arrow-shooting motion.
…
…
Lin Ziping’s residence——
In order to make it easier to rush to the inner city wall in various emergencies, at Lin Ziping's request, Chanup allocated an empty house near the inner city wall to Lin Ziping to live in.
At this moment, Lin Ziping was sitting cross-legged on the ground, leaning against the wall behind him, closing his eyes and concentrating.
At this time, there was a sudden sound of someone walking in at the door.
Lin Ziping raised his eyes and saw Chanup holding a handful of dried meat in each hand, entering the room and walking quickly towards him.
"Mr. Lin." Chanup handed the meal in his hand to Lin Ziping in front of him, "Here, here is dinner."
"If it's convenient -" Chanup raised the dried meat in his other hand, "can you have dinner with me?"
"...Please do as you please, Mr. Chanup." Lin Ziping nodded.
The two sat opposite each other, holding up their own pieces of dried meat, tearing and chewing it.
"Mr. Lin." Chanupu had just stuffed a small mouthful of dried meat into his mouth when he suddenly asked Lin Ziping, "After this afternoon's command...how long do you think we can hold on to this city?"
Woolen cloth?"
"Although I had expected that you would have some other purpose when you came to have dinner with me..." Lin Ziping smiled bitterly, "But I didn't expect that you would reveal your purpose so quickly..."
"
After tearing off another piece of dried meat and stuffing it into his mouth, Lin Ziping said slowly:
"You have many advantages, but also many shortcomings."
"In my eyes, there are three of your most fatal weaknesses - lack of sufficient weapons to defend the city, poor personal equipment, and the walls of the city are made of wood."
“I probably don’t need to elaborate on the first two points.”
"What I'm most worried about right now is the flaw in point 3 I just mentioned."
A dark cloud appeared on Lin Ziping's face.
"Both your inner and outer city walls are made of wood."
"My guess is that the Lucians who built this fort in the first place probably considered the cost and were unable to build a stone fort in such a remote place, so they turned this fort into a wooden one."
"Although it is strong and not afraid of being hit by people or being shot by arrows and muskets, it is difficult to withstand the bombardment of artillery..."
"Judging from the information currently known, the army outside the city undoubtedly has artillery, but I don't know how many they are..."
Lin Ziping sighed heavily.
"Now we can only hope that their artillery is not large in quantity, of poor quality, and does not have enough shells."
"The artillery currently used by the shogunate is still the backward bronze cannon from the Warring States Period two hundred years ago. It has a short range and poor accuracy. Even if you fire 10 cannons, not one of them may hit the target."
"If the number of artillery shells carried by the army outside the city is small, then it is not something to be afraid of. Otherwise..."
Lin Ziping did not go on and just allowed Chanup to imagine.
"...So, Mr. Lin," Chanupu said slowly, "how long do you think we can hold out if the Japanese troops outside the city don't use firearms?"
"I can't say that." Lin Ziping said, "The battlefield situation is ever-changing, and I don't have a perfect plan to win against the 'Kongming' who is thousands of miles away. I can't guarantee how long this fortress can be defended."
"The only thing I can promise you is that I will do my best."
"Although we successfully defended the city today, we cannot take it lightly." Lin Ziping then said seriously, "After all, there are nearly ten thousand people in the army outside the city."
"They may have some hidden elite troops that they haven't dispatched yet..."
Speaking of this, Lin Ziping's expression became serious at a speed visible to the naked eye, and he even forgot to stuff the dried meat in his hand into his mouth.
"According to my speculation, the Edo shogunate should have brought all the vassal troops from the northeastern vassals to help."
"So...I'm worried now that Aizu's troops are coming too."
"Aizu..." Chanup's expression also changed.
Lin Ziping, who noticed that Chanup's expression also changed, raised his eyebrows.
"Hmm? Mr. Chanup, do you know the Aizu Domain?"
Chanup nodded: "When I traveled to the land of Kazuto before, I heard about this vassal state. I only knew that this vassal state was quite powerful. I didn't know anything about the rest."
"You actually visited the 'Heren Land'."
"It was just a very short trip, and during that trip, I had never been to other 'Kazuto lands' except Matsumae Domain."
Lin Ziping tore off a piece of dried meat and stuffed it into his mouth.
"If Aizu's troops come... it will be a big trouble."
"The Aizu Domain is the pillar of the shogunate."
"Mr. Chanup, do you know that our Kazuto vassal state is divided into three levels according to the relationship with the shogunate? The close vassal daimyo, the genealogical daimyo, and the foreign daimyo."
"In our Japan...that is, in the Northeastern region of our 'Wajito Land', most of the vassal states are foreign daimyo."
"As one of the few feudal lords in the Northeast, the Aizu Domain shoulders the important responsibility of sitting in the north, guarding the northern gate for the shogunate, and intimidating the Northeastern feudal clans."
"Under the influence of such heavy responsibilities and the influence of folk customs, the samurai of Aizu are both capable of fighting and loyal. Although the samurai of the Sendai Domain always say that they are the 'strongest samurai in the Northeast', people with a little vision and knowledge
Everyone knows that the Aizu Army is undoubtedly the strongest force in Tohoku."
"If the Aizu army comes... it will be a big trouble..."
Lin Ziping stuffed all the remaining dried meat into his mouth.
After chewing the dried meat in his mouth and swallowing it, Lin Ziping asked Chanup nonchalantly:
"Mr. Chanup, can I ask a question now?"
"Hmm? Please ask."
"Can you tell me - where do you get all your muskets?"
Upon hearing Lin Ziping's question, Chanup's brows raised slightly.
Although Lin Ziping noticed Chanup's reaction, he still chose to continue: "
"What you are using are flintlock guns that are popular in Europe today."
"This kind of musket is not generally difficult to obtain. I once thought about buying such a flintlock gun for further study, but after a lot of effort I found a way to purchase it.
I found out that I had to go without food and water for three years before I could buy one."
"You have 80 such expensive and difficult-to-purchase muskets, and you have plenty of projectiles and gunpowder..."
"How on earth did you get such a large number of muskets?"
"..." Chanup remained silent.
It's like thinking.
Seeing Chanupu's silence, Lin Ziping added:
"If you don't want to say more, then that's it. I'm not a person who is so curious that I won't give up until I ask."
Chanup shook his head gently: "No. If you want to know, I can still tell you."
"These muskets of ours were all traded with a certain Kazuto."
"Heren?" Lin Ziping frowned.
"I don't know the person's full name," Chanup said. "The person only told me his last name - 'Kinoshita'."
…
…
Red Moon Fortress, Kunoya’s Clinic——
Cunoya held her pipe in her mouth with a tired face and walked quickly back to her clinic.
Since the war started again in the afternoon today, Kunoa has basically not had any rest.
Although Lin Ziping's command greatly increased the combat power of their Red Moon Fortress, the casualties could not be reduced to zero.
Kunoya has been busy until now, and she can finally take a break.
After finally being able to rest, the first thing Cunoya did was to go back to the clinic to see how the little girl named Atachi was doing.
Since Ogata left, Kunoya has completely become Azachi's doctor and nanny - but Kunoya has no complaints about this.
As a doctor, she has long been accustomed to the feeling of being both a doctor and a nanny.
Moreover, A-Machi has been very peaceful and well-behaved these days, so Kunoya doesn’t need to worry about it.
"Little girl, I'm back..."
When Cunoa stepped into the clinic, the last syllable of her sentence "I'm back" was stuck in her throat before she could even utter it.
Kunoya was not only speechless, her eyes also widened at this time.
"Little girl, what are you doing?"
With wide eyes, she looked at the scene in front of her in astonishment - in a small clinic, A-Machi was lying on her bed as usual.
But at this time, Amachi crossed his hands between his armpits and the "southern hemisphere", and rubbed it with moderate force.
"Ah, Kunoya, you're back." After these days of meditation and recuperation, A-Machi finally regained his vitality when he spoke.
While she was talking to Cunoa, her hands did not stop and she continued to rub them there.
"The injuries are almost healed, so I'm back." Kunoya looked at Atachi's hands that were still rubbing and rubbing, "What on earth are you doing?"
"I'm doing what I can do. I'm massaging the acupuncture points."
"I suddenly remembered today - someone once told me that if the upper body is injured, just massage the acupuncture points in this area to help blood flow and promote wound healing."
"Where did you hear this nonsense..." Kunoya said in a helpless tone, "Rubbing the acupuncture point in that place will not be good for your wound healing."
"But it's not bad for you to be like this." Kunoya shrugged, "It's not good for your body if you lie on the floor all the time. Doing simple exercises like this in moderation is also good for your body.
benefit."
"Kunoa, when will I be able to stand up and move around freely?" Amachi asked.
"Let's rest for a few more days." Cunoa replied, "You are recovering pretty well now. After a few more days of rest, you should be able to stand up and walk around."
"What? Are you in a hurry to stand up? I advise you to lie here obediently. It is not safe and peaceful outside now."
"...I want to get better as soon as possible." A-Machi said softly, "At least well enough to be able to stand up and move around under my own power."
"I... want to do something I can do as soon as possible."
After saying that, A-Machi glanced at a big cloth bag placed next to her bed.
There seemed to be some long pole wrapped under the big cloth bag, and it was wrapped so tightly that no one could see clearly what was contained under the cloth bag.
"Then you continue to rest obediently, eat and sleep on time. If you want to get better quickly, there is no other way but to rest." Kunoya took off the cigarette in her mouth, "Just be obedient now.
Let's have dinner, and change the dressing after dinner. I'll see how your wound is recovering later."
"Hmm..." A-Machi nodded lightly.
…
…
The next day——
On the fourth day after Ogata left Red Moon Fortress——
Today is like a replica of yesterday.
As soon as it dawned, the soldiers of the First Army surged towards the Red Moon Fortress again like a tide.
After resting for a while at noon, they launched the attack again in the afternoon and did not retreat until dark.
Not only was today's attack rhythm a replica of yesterday's, but even the results were almost the same as yesterday - they failed to capture the outer city wall of the Red Moon Fortress. At the end of the day, even the strongholds that could steadily transport troops failed to capture the outer city wall.
Build several on it.
Inamori's brows did not loosen until today's battle was over and the sky turned dark.
Under the night sky, he stood on a small slope and looked at the Red Moon Fortress in the distance.
"...It's much harder than expected..." Daomori murmured softly.
"Lord Inamori... I'm very sorry..."
Inamori was not alone on this high slope.
The general of the First Army, Yoshimasa Katsura, was standing beside Inamori.
Inamori and Katsura Yoshimasa stood on this high slope one behind the other, with no third person accompanying them.
Standing next to Inamori, he lowered his head slightly and looked apologetic.
"It's my incompetence. Facing a bunch of barbarians, I had no results for two consecutive days..."
"No need to apologize." As soon as Gui Yizheng finished speaking, Daomori immediately shook his head and said, "This is not your fault."
"Although the opponent is a barbarian, he still has such a tall fortress with two walls."
"Facing an opponent who occupies a favorable geographical location, it is naturally difficult to deal with it."
"What's more, they have experts who are good at defending the city to help them."
"And your first army is composed of the vassal armies of the northeastern vassals, and its combat strength is not strong."
"It's actually not easy to be able to fight like this."
After hearing Daomori's relief, Gui Yizheng's face finally looked better.
"Although this fortress is much stronger than we thought, it's actually not a big problem." Daomori turned his attention to the fortress in the distance again, "No matter how strong their fortress is, their
No matter how powerful the 'experts' are, it can't change the fact that they are few in number and have poor equipment."
"The reason why we fought so hard these two days is largely because the generals of our First Army are too weak."
"If we replace it with a strong force, the result should be very different."
"Lord Inamori..." Katsura Yoshimasa said tentatively, "Do you mean... to wait for the third army... to wait for the Aizu army to come over?"
Daomori smiled bitterly at this time:
"Although I don't want to face this fact...but I have to admit that the strength of the Aizu army is superior to our shogunate army."
"I don't want to spend too much time on a bunch of barbarians. When Aizu comes, let the Aizu army take over as your first army."
"At one go, capture this barbarian fortress!"
"But..." Katsura Yoshimasa said softly, "The Aizu army won't arrive until tomorrow morning..."
"So let's wait slowly for now." Inamori nodded, "Waiting for the Aizu army to join forces..."
"Lord Inamori!"
At this time, a general rushed towards Inamori with a happy face.
"What's the matter?" Daomori asked.
"Yes, Aizu is here!" The general suppressed the ecstasy on his face, "The third army general, Mr. Kamao, is waiting at the entrance of Nanying!"
"Aizu is here?" Even with Inamori's strong determination, he couldn't help but show a shocked expression after hearing the news, "Didn't he say before that he wouldn't be able to arrive here until tomorrow morning?
"
Daomori held on to the saber on his waist and hurried towards the Nanyingkou of the camp, while Gui Yizheng naturally followed closely behind.
As soon as he arrived outside Nanyingkou, Inamori saw the young face of Kamao, whom he had not seen for a while, and the Aizu army behind Kamao holding high the military flag embroidered with "Aizu Sankoi".
"Kamao-kun!" Daomori hurried forward to greet Kamao, "You said in your letter before that you would have to wait until tomorrow morning to arrive here. You are much earlier than the time you stated in your letter.
.Have you started a forced march?"
"I heard that the fighting situation on the front line was tense, and the barbarians were more resistant than expected." Pu Sheng said seriously, "So I led the troops to speed up the march a little."
"But please rest assured, Inamori-sama, we Aizu samurai are all strong men. Just speeding up this much will not make us so tired that we can't move for several days."
Inamori raised his eyes and glanced at the Aizu generals behind Kamao - although they all looked tired, they all looked determined.
"...Kamao-kun. You came at the right time." Daomori raised his hand and patted Kamo on the shoulder, "Come on, let's quickly enter the camp and set up camp."
…
…
The next day——
The fifth day after Ogata left Red Moon Fortress——
The sun had just risen from the horizon, and Lin Ziping, accompanied by Chanupu, went up to the inner city wall to observe the movements of the army outside the city.
After two days of fighting, both the inner city wall and the outer city wall were now filled with a vague smell of blood.
"Mr. Lin, look," Chanup said, "the Japanese troops are starting to leave camp and assemble."
Lin Ziping nodded gently: "Let everyone be prepared... huh? No. There is something wrong with the Hejun outside the city..."
Before he finished speaking, Lin Ziping suddenly paused, then narrowed his eyes and stared at the troops outside the city who began to assemble in the open space between the Red Moon Fortress and the military camp.
"Something's not right...it's not the same as the army's flag...!"
After taking a closer look, Lin Ziping suddenly discovered that what was wrong with the Hejun army he had just noticed was that the flag was different.
At this moment, the Japanese troops outside the city no longer held the various military flags of the Northeastern vassals.
Instead, they held a unified flag - a unique "Aoi pattern flag" that was slightly different from the "Three-leaf Aoi" of the Edo shogunate.
As a scholar who has traveled all over the world, Lin Ziping is naturally no stranger to this sunflower pattern flag.
"Aizu Sankui..." Lin Ziping murmured with a pale face, "I'm really afraid of whatever comes..."
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Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the author is still working hard to update... and it is still a big chapter of 6,400 words... The author just wants a few monthly tickets as a Mid-Autumn Festival gift (Leopard Head Cries.jpg)