The Red Moon Fortress is adjacent to rivers in the north, west and east, and it is impossible to deploy troops to attack the city walls in these three directions.
Therefore, the shogunate army could only attack the south of the Red Moon Fortress - this was undoubtedly a great benefit to the Red Moon Fortress, which had fewer troops, as it could concentrate its forces.
However, the shogunate army could not maximize its advantage in military strength because it could only attack in one direction.
The inner and outer walls of the Red Moon Fortress had already been deployed.
The outer walls were filled with tribesmen armed with various melee weapons, who were responsible for driving down any Japanese who climbed up the walls.
On the inner city walls, there are archers responsible for long-range attacks and musketeers.
The musketeers holding muskets lined up in a straight line in the middle of the inner city wall.
When the Japanese conch trumpet sounded, the musketeers put their muskets down and pointed them at the Japanese army outside the city that was rushing towards them.
The flintlock rifles they used had a much longer range than bows and arrows, so they were naturally the ones to launch the first wave of attacks.
As soon as the soldiers of the First Army carrying long ladders entered the firing range of the musketeers, gunfire rang out immediately on the inner city wall.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of gunfire, like popping beans, immediately overwhelmed the noise of the people.
Japan is a country that lacks iron ore, so it is naturally impossible for it to mass-produce luxurious equipment such as iron shields.
The mainstream shields in ancient Japanese armies have always been wooden shields.
Although they held up shields to guard against long-range attacks when carrying ladders and charging towards the walls of the Red Moon Fortress, their shields were no different from a piece of paper when facing the bullets fired from the flintlock rifles.
However, flintlock rifles also have shortcomings, which is that their shooting accuracy is very poor.
A row of bullets whizzed away, but less than 10 bullets successfully hit the enemy soldiers.
However, although these whizzing bullets did not kill too many enemy soldiers, they dealt a great blow to the enemy's morale.
A scorching hot bullet cut through the air with great force and hit the forehead of a soldier who was carrying a ladder, piercing the soldier's head.
Because of the high speed and powerful energy of the bullet, the brain matter, skull fragments and blood formed a mist that sprayed out from the back of the soldier's head and landed on the face of a soldier behind him who was also carrying a ladder.
Where had this soldier ever seen such a battle?
Regardless of whether they were the direct troops of the shogunate or the feudal armies of various fiefs, the vast majority of their soldiers had not heard of war for a long time and had no idea what the scene of "blood splattering" was like.
The soldier was stunned after witnessing with his own eyes how his comrade in front of him, who was fine just a moment ago but was shot to death the next second, died tragically, and after having the "mixed liquid" splashed on his face by the dead comrade.
For a moment, I even forgot to wipe off the "mixed liquid" on my face.
It took several seconds for the soldier to finally come to his senses.
After coming to his senses, the blood color on the soldier's face disappeared at a very fast speed.
Then——
“Aa ...
There was a shrill cry .
Under the stimulation of such great shock and fear, the soldier felt his legs go weak and he almost fell to the ground.
Similar scenes continued to occur around all the soldiers who were unfortunately shot.
After the musketeer completed a shot, he immediately handed the empty musket in his hand to an assistant beside him who was responsible for helping him reload bullets.
The assistant handed the shooter another flintlock rifle loaded with bullets, then took the emptied musket from the shooter and began to load it. As for the shooter, he continued to shoot with the new gun loaded with bullets.
Although Chanup and his men did not know how to fight a battle to defend a city, they understood that "alternating firing of muskets can increase shooting efficiency" because they lived a life of fishing and hunting and had a deep understanding and experience of shooting.
They had a total of 80 flintlock rifles and 20 shooters, each with 4 muskets and 3 assistants to help them load the ammunition, adopting the shooting strategy of "changing the gun but not the person".
After the musketeers took the lead and launched a non-stop firestorm on the shogunate soldiers outside the city, it was finally the archers' turn to take the stage.
The soldiers of the First Army carrying ladders advanced forward for a while, facing the bullets from the muskets, and then they heard the sound of vibrating strings on the city wall in front of them.
Arrows like locusts drew beautiful parabolas, leaped up from the inner city wall, and smashed into the soldiers of the First Army.
“Aaaaaaaa——!”
"it hurts!"
"Help me! Help me!"
The screams and wails became more frequent and dense as the blood splattered.
Archery is the specialty of the Ainu people, a fishing and hunting nation.
Unlike flintlock rifles, which were difficult to control shooting accuracy, bows and arrows were much easier to control for the Ainu people.
Although the soldiers of the First Army successfully blocked most of the arrows with the armor on their bodies and the shields in their hands, a small number of arrows still passed through the gaps between the shields and hit places without armor protection.
The foot soldiers, who made up the vast majority of the army, wore extremely simple armor, without shoulder armor, arm armor, etc., only simple breastplate and skirt armor, and many parts of the body were not protected by armor at all.
There is no concept of "wounds" from the arrows they shoot.
Either "shoot to death" or "shoot nothing".
Because the tip of each arrow is coated with a poison that the Ainu people use exclusively for hunting.
These poisonous arrows can make even a bear unable to take a few steps, so there is no reason for a person to survive if they are shot at a human.
The soldiers who were hit by these poisonous arrows let out a few cries of pain, then their faces turned blue and they collapsed to the ground, being poisoned to death.
These arrows, which would kill anyone who was hit, naturally put enormous pressure on the officers and soldiers of the First Army.
The sound of flintlock triggers being pulled and the friction sound of bowstrings vibrating resounded on the inner walls of the Red Moon Fortress, and the bullets and arrows were firing with great power.
The soldiers of the First Army paid a huge price before they even touched the walls of the Red Moon Fortress.
As the soldiers of the First Army rushed toward the city wall, the archers of the First Army also provided covering fire for their companions .
However, they could only attack from above, and many of them could not even shoot arrows at the city wall... In addition, the number of archers was small, so their covering fire was better than nothing...
Finally - after paying a huge price in sacrifice, the soldiers of the First Army finally reached the outer wall of the Red Moon Fortress and placed ladders on the wall.
"Quick! Quick! Climb up! Climb up!"
Under orderly command, the soldiers climbed up the long ladders towards the outer city wall like a colony of ants.
The tribesmen who had been waiting on full alert on the outer city wall finally began their attack.
Many long ladders were pushed down as soon as they were put up.
The soldiers who had finally managed to climb up to the outer city wall using the ladder that had not been pushed down in time would be greeted by sharp spears.
Many soldiers were stabbed back to the ground by random bullets as soon as they raised their heads.
The archers on the inner city wall also actively provided cover for their companions on the outer city wall, shooting and killing all enemy soldiers who tried to climb the wall.
Under the combined fierce attack of the Ainu on the inner and outer walls, the soldiers of the First Army who climbed up the ladders screamed one after another and then fell down from the ladders.
Soldiers kept falling off the ladders, but at the same time, new soldiers kept climbing up the ladders, replacing their companions who had just fallen off the ladders - and then, they followed in the footsteps of the soldiers who had just fallen off the ladders.
Standing on the inner city wall, Chanup was directing the battle while observing the battle situation on the outer city wall.
The battle situation on the outer city wall is currently going smoothly, however - Chanup's brows are still furrowed.
It was because Chanup noticed that the garrison on the outer city wall was full of an atmosphere of "disorder".
"Hey! What are you doing with all these people gathered there? There aren't many people there!"
"Hurry up! Some people come over here! The people here are almost climbing up!"
Similar remarks continued to appear in various places on the outer city wall.
The reason for this situation is that they lack a "commander" who truly understands how to fight a city defense battle.
This "disorderly" situation soon led to disastrous consequences.
"Hey! Come over here and help! The people here are all aboard!"
A scream rang out from somewhere on the outer city wall.
I saw that a large number of people had flocked to the place where the sound came from.
The Ashigaru who had successfully climbed up the ladders to the city wall used their wooden shields to form a wooden wall to block the outside of their ladders, desperately blocking the Ainu's attacks and building a small stronghold to ensure that subsequent soldiers could continue to climb up.
Seeing this, the surrounding Ainu people naturally rushed to support and tried their best to destroy the small stronghold built by the people.
…
…
First Army, Main Camp——
Katsura Yoshimasa, who stayed behind in the main camp, had been using a telescope to observe the battle situation on the outer city wall.
The distance mentioned was a bit far, but relying on the high-performance telescope in his hand, Gui Yizheng could still see the battle situation on the outer city wall relatively clearly.
Looking at the barbarians who were in a panic on the outer city wall, Gui Yizhen couldn't help but reveal a smug expression.
"As expected... barbarians are barbarians." Gui Yizheng put down the telescope in his hand and sneered, "Even if they have muskets, they are just helping barbarians who don't know what war is."
…
…
Also observing the battle situation through a telescope was Inamori.
Inamori stood on a high slope, looking at the battle situation in the distance through a telescope - he also had a smug expression on his face, just like Katsura Yoshimasa.
At this time, standing on this high slope accompanying Inamori were only a few of Inamori's close confidants.
"It seems that the difficulty of taking down this fortress is much easier than I thought." Inamori smiled, "These barbarians don't know how to defend a city at all. Their 'willful' way of defending the city really makes me want to laugh."
"There is no need for our firearms to be used." A confidant responded.
Inamori nodded: "Next, we just need to attack the city in an ordinary way, and finally enter the breached fortress leisurely."
The reason why Inamori didn't use heavy firepower weapons such as cannons and cannons to bomb the inner and outer walls of the Red Moon Fortress from the beginning was to protect the fortress.
The Edo Shogunate launched such a large-scale expedition this time just to capture this fortress located in a strategic location.
As long as this fortress is in hand, it will be of great benefit to all subsequent development activities of the Edo Shogunate in Ezo.
From the very beginning, Inamori did not take the resistance of the Red Moon Fortress seriously. At the beginning of the expedition, he regarded the fortress as the private property of their Edo Shogunate.
In other words, destroying this fortress would be equivalent to destroying the fortress of the Edo Shogunate, and they would have to spend a huge amount of money to rebuild the fortress walls.
Therefore, Inamori had to avoid damaging the walls of the Red Moon Fortress as much as possible.
To capture the Red Moon Fortress in as intact a state as possible - this is Inamori's goal.
"Sir," another confidant said at this time, "it will be noon in half an hour."
"At noon, should we withdraw the First Army's soldiers and replace them with our own troops to launch a continuous attack on those barbarians?"
The "our troops" he mentioned were naturally the soldiers of the Second Army composed entirely of their shogunate's direct troops.
"No need." Inamori said without hesitation, "It's not time to send our troops into battle yet."
At this point, Inamori sneered.
"Our Edo Shogunate troops will only be responsible for the final 'harvest'."
"The early stages of 'sowing' and 'cultivating' can be left to the First Army, which is composed of the armies of each domain."
"The more people they kill, the more benefits our Edo Shogunate will suffer."
The confidant who had just suggested whether to send their own troops to launch a non-stop attack on the Red Moon Fortress smiled and said in a half-joking tone:
"Sir, you are so evil. You actually want to use this battle to weaken the strength of the northeastern vassal states."
"I'm just continuing what our shogunate has been doing for the past two hundred years." Inamori shrugged.
…
…
The First Army's attack on the Red Moon Fortress lasted until noon.
It was not until noon, when the sun was high in the sky, that the First Army finally sounded the clarion call for retreat.
The soldiers of the First Army, who were launching a fierce offensive against the Red Moon Fortress, retreated like a tide after the order to retreat was issued. While preparing lunch, they also allowed the soldiers who had been fighting for a long time to rest.
Gui Yizheng’s expression right now…if I were to describe it in one word, it would be “smug”.
Although their battle this morning, judging from the results, had gained nothing except killing and wounding some Ainu people, and although they had successfully built some small strongholds on the outer city wall during the battle, they were quickly destroyed.
But even though this morning's battle yielded nothing, Katsura Yoshimasa's eyes were still filled with excitement.
Although there was no result, this morning's battle exposed the shortcomings of those barbarians who did not understand the tactics of war.
This greatly increased Gui Yizheng's confidence.
After returning to the camp in a majestic manner, Katsura Yoshimasa was pleasantly surprised to find that Inamori came to greet him in person.
"Katsura, you fought well." Inamori said with a smile, "Keep up your spirit and defeat those barbarians as soon as possible."
In this society that emphasizes respect, hierarchy, and order, a compliment from a superior is enough to make the inferior flattered.
"Yes!" Gui Yizheng hurriedly responded loudly, "I will definitely eliminate all the fools who dare to resist in the Red Moon Fortress as soon as possible! Clear all obstacles for you to take over this fortress!"
After saying this, Katsura Yoshimasa and Inamori smiled meaningfully at each other at the same time, tacitly knowing each other.
Gui Yizheng was not a fool, he knew that the great honor of conquering the Red Moon Fortress would definitely not belong to the First Army, which was a side force. Their First Army could only do the most difficult work.
So what Gui Yizheng just said was the very interesting "clearing away obstacles" rather than "taking down the city walls".
Katsura Yoshimasa actually didn't care at all about how much military merit the other generals and soldiers of the First Army could achieve before the end of the battle.
After all - he is one of Inamori's trusted confidants and a "direct general."
"Hurry up and have lunch and rest." Inamori raised his hand and patted Katsura Yoshimasa's shoulder, "We still have to fight in the afternoon."
Gui Yizheng: “Yes!”
…
…
Red Moon Fortress——
Since the battle began, a steady stream of wounded soldiers have been carried down and into the "treatment area".
The so-called "treatment area" was just an open space near the city wall, with blankets laid out for the wounded to lie on.
After the battle, when the tribesmen were free to carry the wounded, the number of wounded in the "treatment area" immediately increased sharply.
As the number of wounded continued to increase, the smell of blood in the "treatment area" became increasingly heavier.
The strong smell of blood was like an invisible chain that firmly locked the open space. No matter how you tried to dispel the strong smell of blood, it would gather back again.
In addition to the strong smell of blood that rushes into your nostrils, there are also endless screams and wails.
Many wounded soldiers pressed their wounds in pain, uttering one miserable howl and scream after another.
"Ahhhh! My hand!"
“It hurts so much…it hurts so much…”
"Ms. Kunoa... my legs hurt..."
Doctors, led by Kunoya, shuttled back and forth in the "treatment area".
Since she started treating the first wounded person, Kunoya has been keeping a calm expression.
Whether she was treating a wounded soldier with only superficial injuries or a wounded soldier with a terrifying amount of bleeding, Kunoya always looked calm, as if "any injury is just a minor one."
In an inconspicuous corner at the outermost edge of the treatment area, two middle-aged men silently looked at the wounded with painful faces with complicated eyes.
"... Chanup, we can't go on like this." Reitannoe said, "If we don't find a way to quickly make up for our lack of a 'commander' who knows how to defend a city, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold out for much longer."
"I understand what you said," Chanup said in a deep voice, "but how can we make up for this shortcoming?"
"...How about we capture a Japanese general who knows how to defend a city?"
"Rentanoe, is what you just said true?"
"Of course not, I was just joking."
"Don't tell jokes like this that aren't funny at all."
Even people like Inamori and Katsura Yoshimasa who could only observe the battle situation with telescopes could see that their battle was full of "disorder". How could Chanup, who was standing on the inner city wall directing the battle and also knew that they lacked a qualified commander, not know it either?
After witnessing the painful looks on the faces of these children in the "treatment area", Chanup realized more deeply how fatal their biggest shortcoming was.
If there was a powerful commander to take charge of the command and dispatch, the casualties would be much smaller.
But his realization... was of no use.
Because they simply couldn't come up with any solution.
Chanup raised his hand and rubbed his frown, then said to Reitannoe beside him in a half-joking tone:
"It would be great if someone who knows how to defend the city could fall from the sky at this time."
"You just told me not to tell boring jokes at a time like this." Retannoy glanced at Chanup unhappily, "and now you're telling boring jokes yourself."
"How can there be such a good thing in the world..."
Before Reitannoe could finish his words, a somewhat anxious shout rang out from behind them:
"Mr. Chanup! I finally found you!"
A young man ran quickly towards Chanup.
"What's wrong?" Chanup asked.
"That, that..." Because of the fast pace, the young man was a little out of breath, but he still held back his rapid breathing and struggled to piece together a complete sentence, "The imprisoned Kazuto... said he wanted to see you... said he wanted to fight alongside us..."
"...Ah?" Chanup tilted his head, "Want to fight...side by side with us...?"
"The imprisoned Japanese?" Reitannoe also showed a puzzled look, "Who is it...? When did we imprison a Japanese?"
…
…
About an hour later——
First Army, Main Camp——
"Okay!" Gui Yizheng gently fanned the military partner in his palm, "Let's continue!"
Gui Yizheng not only had a hearty lunch, but also had a good sleep to fully rest his spirit.
Because he was in a good mood, Gui Yizhen had an especially sweet nap today.
After taking his position in the main camp, Gui Yizheng waved the military equipment in his hand with full momentum: "Attack!"
Following Gui Yizheng's order, the same scene as in the morning appeared - the soldiers of the First Army rushed towards the Red Moon Fortress like a swarm of ants.
After issuing the order to attack, Gui Yizheng held the military pennant in his right hand and a telescope in his left hand, leisurely watching the battle situation from afar.
However--
"Um……?"
Just after he scanned the outer wall of the Red Moon Fortress through the telescope, Gui Yi subconsciously uttered a "hmm" full of doubt.
The scene on the outer city wall had hardly changed from this morning.
But for some reason... Katsura Yoshimasa felt that the atmosphere on the outer wall... no, it should be said that the atmosphere of the entire Red Moon Fortress had become somewhat different from this morning...
While Katsura Yoshimasa was still puzzled by the change in the atmosphere in the Red Moon Fortress, the soldiers in charge of the siege had already begun to attack the barbarians in the Red Moon Fortress.
Under the fire of bullets and arrows, after placing ladders on the outer city wall, the soldiers were ready to climb up the outer city wall along the ladders.
It was also at this time that Gui Yizheng's expression began to change at a speed visible to the naked eye.
He raised his eyebrows first.
Then surprise appeared on his face.
Then surprise turned to shock.
Then the shock began to be mixed with confusion.
Finally, Katsura Yizheng, unable to conceal his shock, jumped up from his stool and screamed:
"What on earth did those barbarians do—?!"