.206, Damn it finally died

The dazzling fire lights lit up in clusters on the ground covered by night, and the sky was filled with the screams of shells passing by. The scorching metal balls dragged orange-red bullet marks under the push of gunpowder, crossing the wide moat, hitting the solid wall one by one, smashing the gravel and dust rising. Even in the city behind, you can feel the violent shaking of the ground.

In order to avoid the damage of the shelling, Major General Ferie Taylor could only huddle in the temporary excavation bunker, and occasionally poke his head out to observe like a groundhog.

For soldiers, there is nothing more afflicting than being able to fight back with shells but not being able to fight back.

What annoyed him even more was the inferior fortifications that were not useful in this city.

"...... After only a few hundred shells, it collapsed and a large hole that was nearly half a mile wide? What a hell is this tofu project in Osaka? It looks tall, big and wide, but in fact it is so vulnerable?"

Taking advantage of the gap between enemy shelling outside the city, Feili poked her head out of a trench excavated with earth-based spells, glanced at the pile of "suddenly enlightening" city gate ruins at the end of the street, and then couldn't help but curse in a low voice.

"...It was the ancient city wall hundreds of years ago. It had not been repaired well, and the foundation had long been loose. The area near the shelled section happened to be swamps, and the walls were so sunken that it would collapse a few pieces of earth when it was blown. Now it was normal for it to be destroyed..."

As an indigenous native who grew up in the local area, after the advice of everyone to "sacrifice and follow the changes", Miss Ryuhime Mitsui, who had just taken over her deceased father Ginji and succeeded to the position of president of the Osaka Merchants Group, sighed and explained, with a hint of redness and swelling in the corner of her eyes, "...What really makes me curious is where the Satsuma clan found so many artillery? Could it be the arms assistance of the Dragon Witch Cult?"

"...The batch of arms aid given by the Dragon Witch Sect? Haven't it been blatantly intercepted and swallowed by the greedy ministers in Kyoto, and sold it to your business at a high price, and then it is equipped in my Giant Bear Legion? Well, according to the facts of the information, even the Dragon Witch Sect will not be the sucker again since the incident was exposed."

Feili shrugged, "...The dark elf scout of our army just took it out and reconnaissance. The Satsuma army's artillery was not too many, and there were only about fifty guns in total, including the earth-raising cannons cast by the country workshop. But they were a little brained. They actually demolished the pillars and beams of nearby temples and made many disposable pine wood cannons. They seemed to be very loud when they were set off, but the actual power was very pitiful... But the problem is that the Osaka city walls can't even stand this level of artillery bombardment, and what's even more deadly is that they can't fight back at all... Hey, it's so frustrating."

It would be fine if I didn't talk about it, but when I talked about it, Feili felt anger in her heart.

As the most important commercial center in the country, Osaka Port is located on the delta at the mouth of the Yodogawa Sea. It is low-lying and flat, and it is difficult to build a defense system based on mountains. Even some of the old rivers and waters were gradually drained and filled up due to the increase in population and urban expansion, and transformed into towns and arable land. The current Osaka Castle is completely safe to defend, and the enemy troops in the siege can easily advance all the way to the foot of the city wall.

In the peaceful era before the war, the city had only a pitiful thousand garrisons. They mainly rely on urban management teams and business associations to fight internal security, and were basically unprepared fortifications. After the shogunate defeat in Kyoto, the remaining soldiers and defeated soldiers who fled back to Osaka began to repair fortifications. Following the original moat, they urgently built more than 20 forts in one breath, and placed more than 160 bronze naval cannons requisitioned from armed merchant ships. Then they patted their chests and put down their hearts, boasting that the city defense was as solid as a decent, and even if one million enemies attacked for a hundred years, they would not take it down.

Unfortunately, countless painful facts prove that the cattle are easily stabbed down when flying in the sky. The bold saying "One million enemies will not be able to take them down for a hundred years" is still in my ears. But now it is just a surprise attack by thousands of enemy vanguards, and all the peripheral artillery fell in one day - because all veterans with a little experience were transferred to various construction sites to be supervisors, and there were only a group of rookies and coolies who did not use artillery skills at all. As soon as they saw the Shimazu family's military flag appearing on the horizon, they were frightened and scattered.

If these guys had not been timid, they were somewhat responsible, and before leaving the turret, they finally remembered detonating the ammunition depot and not letting these artillery fall into the opponent, the deterioration of the battle situation would probably be even worse.

But the current situation alone is enough to make Feili vomit blood with depression.

The Osaka defenders threw or destroyed their artillery and ruined them all. There was basically nothing left except the eagle cannon with a range shorter than muskets. The artillery of the Giant Bear Legion was still pressed into the bottom cabin and could not be removed for a while. The firepower of the naval fleet was fierce, but it could not reach the shore or enter the inland river. The range could not reach the enemy camp in the inland direction...

Therefore, before the porters in Osaka lighted torches and worked overtime overnight, unloading the field guns and ammunition boxes on the transport ship, Feri and his subordinates could only huddle in the trenches and get shells, and were worried about the possible night raids that the opponent might launch.

As for trying to contact the short-lived ghost on the other side, and informing them that they have suffered from space radiation disease and have a short lifespan, so as to destroy their fighting spirit and morale... Well, looking at this posture of fire, it is impossible to implement it for the time being.

The Satsuma army's artillery bombardment of Osaka Castle began in the afternoon and lasted until midnight before it came to an end. The several sections of the city walls that were bombarded with key points basically became hornet's nests. There were several streets and towns in the city who were caught by scorching or incendiary bombs, and the fire broke out, killing hundreds of burners. It can be said that it was the first time that he had a fight, so he opened the door for Feili.

Fortunately, the dock workers rushed forward and finally transported the Giant Bear Legion's field artillery to the land the next day, which finally made Feili breathe a sigh of relief. However, he was just ready to avenge last night's one arrow, but he was a little depressed to find that the Satsuma army had actually stopped the artillery battle and even dragged the artillery away from the position, leaving only the charred wreckage of the pine wood cannon that had been blown up and broken.

The next day, the Satsuma Army did not attack the city or launch any artillery bombardment. The Giant Bear Legion waited for a day under full alert.

On the third day, the Satsuma Army still shrank in the camp and kept moving, allowing the giant bear army to continue to sit in the city.

Then on the fourth day and on the fifth day, the Satsuma army never launched an attack on Osaka Castle again, while the noise in the barracks became lower and lower, and the smoke and campfires became increasingly deserted. In addition, the sentries at the top of the Osaka Castle observed that although there were obviously people in the camp, they still attracted a large number of crows, gathering and hovering over the camp all day long, as if waiting for something...

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"...Oh, there seems to be bugs in my stomach. Who can get me some numbing medicine?"

"...Oh my God, my right hand didn't realize what kind of disease is this?"

"...ah, this flat-haired beast is actually pecking me. Who will help drive this crow away?"

"...The pain is so painful that I can't bear it. As a great warrior, how can I die on the bed? Who will make me wrong if I want to cut off my stomach?"

...

Listening to the anger and moans that sounded everywhere in the military camp, Shimazu Nori lying weakly on the dirty straw mat, looking at the canvas cover of the tent in a daze, as if seeing the god of death smiling at him.

Everything came so suddenly. Just as he turned from Tsuka Port to force his army to the city of Osaka, planning to pull out the nail behind the ground before the decisive battle with the Eastern Army, an invisible disaster quietly came.

First, some people were exhausted and fell behind in the middle and failed to catch up for a long time, but it did not arouse too much alertness from Shimazu. Then, after the entire army set up camp outside Osaka Castle, many people started vomiting and diarrhea after dinner, and then they felt fever and sore throat. They barely dragged to the next morning, their hair was already falling off, their skin was ulcerated, and they were half-drowning, and they were lying on the ground with a humming moan and unable to move.

At first, Shimazu Norishi just thought that a plague broke out. In order to prevent large-scale infection, he quickly gathered all these people in one place, isolated them from the others, and then ordered the witches and priests who were tied up along the way to cast spells to treat them. Unfortunately, no matter what spells these witches and priests used, the patients' illness did not improve at all. Instead, more people fell ill, which immediately made them sweat.

In extreme panic, Shimazu Nuzhi no longer cared about organizing the siege, but was busy ordering people to burn all the tents, clothes used and utensils that these patients had lived in, and the objects they had contacted were burned with fire, and ordered other soldiers not to approach the patients. But in the end, no matter how busy he was, he could not stop the spread of the disease. It was only the next evening that Shimazu Nuzhi himself was unfortunately sick and fell in the tent and was unable to move.

With the fall of the Satsuma lord Shimazu Aoshi, the situation in the army quickly became uncontrollable, and the 20,000 Satsuma army was completely in a panic like hell. The iron-blooded men who were usually as strong as cows fell down one by one, their skin was black and bleed, coughing up blood and diarrhea, and every inch of their muscles seemed to be stabbed by needles. They struggled in extreme pain on the verge of death, but they couldn't understand what disease they had.

Soon, the number of dead people exceeded that of living people, so that they could not even dig a pit and bury it. The unpleasant smell of rottenness soared into the sky, attracting a large number of crows looking for delicious food, like a messenger of the god of death, croaking over the camp all day long and unable to go.

Faced with such a terrifying scene, the remaining "healthy people" quickly gave up their efforts to save their companions and adopted the most effective tactics against the plague - thirty-six strategies, and the best strategy - divided the money and food in the camp, and then spontaneously fled to find a way out... But most of them failed to go far, and they had symptoms similar to their companions, and fell down and never got up again. Only a very small number of new recruits who joined after the fierce battle in Kyoto, as well as the witches and priests who were temporarily tied up, were able to escape by chance.

Of course, Shimazu Nuzhi, who was already dying, basically didn't know about these things that happened later. The day after he fell ill, the few personal guards who were taking care of him all rolled on the sickbed with moans. No one has ever served the prince again. The incontinent urination and foul pus were all flowing in the tent.

Under the torture of illness, Shimazu Noshi's own consciousness gradually became more and more chaotic. He could only stay awake for a short period of time every day. As for the rest of the time, he was half awake and half dreamy, in a daze, as if he was wandering in the clouds.

On this day, after Shimazu's rage woke up in a rare state, he suddenly heard a strange and clear girl's voice from a position not far from him.

"...Is this the tent of the enemy general Shimazu Nushi? It's such a big smell. Although this guy is my lady's enemy to kill her father, he can defeat my father's new shogunate army with just one vassal to spend all the wealth of the whole country and spend millions of taels of silver to manage. He is also a hero with great enthusiasm. I don't want to die so frustrated in the blink of an eye... Alas, is this the so-called end of heroes?"
Chapter completed!