1890 King of Southeast Asia

At 6 pm, the sun was setting, and the artillery brigade had assembled.

Asaguchi Yamada touched these artillery pieces affectionately. These were Japanese-made artillery pieces. Although they were copied by purchasing production licenses and technology, everything from screws to barrels was made in Japan, and Asaguchi had a great liking for them.

"I am Asaguchi Yamada, the leader of this action to respect the king and fight against traitors. Now I take over the direct command of the heavy artillery brigade."

"Because of the shortage of artillery shells, the artillery brigade will be divided into two parts from now on, with 6 120mm howitzers in each part."

"The artillery shells are divided into two parts, high-explosive shells and shrapnel shells. 6 guns only fire shrapnel shells, and the other 6 guns only fire high-explosive shells."

"The shrapnel shells for personnel killing are very precious, and there are only 36 rounds. Each gun can only be allocated 6 rounds, so I require all skilled gunners to be mobilized to operate the shrapnel shells."

Asaguchi Yamada stood on a high platform made of ammunition boxes and spoke to the artillery in a rhythmic manner.

Asaguchi Yamada was self-taught in this speech, and his cadence made everyone think that this was what he thought.

In terms of personnel lethality, shrapnel is indeed more powerful. There were no people in the barricades these days, and the artillerymen did not think it was unreasonable.

As for the skilled artillerymen to use shrapnel, it was also because the use of shrapnel was more difficult, because shrapnel needed to use a time fuse to make it explode just above the enemy.

Inexperienced gunners often cannot grasp the height, distance, position and other data of the detonation fuse.

"Sir, high-explosive shells are also very important, especially since we are short of shells. If we transfer skilled gunners and let novices come up, it may cause waste." The artillery battalion commander stepped forward and said.

He dared to make suggestions because he was a lieutenant colonel and Asaguchi Yamada was a captain, but he only dared to make suggestions and did not dare to say much about other things. After all, Asaguchi Yamada really knew how to kill people.

"Don't worry, because it's a night attack, the other group is only responsible for the feint attack mission, the purpose of firing is to mislead the enemy, it doesn't matter whether it's accurate or not." Asakuchi Yamada shook his head.

Hearing this, the artillery battalion commander retreated tactfully.

"If you have no questions, go down and prepare." Asakuchi Yamada waved his hand and walked down the platform.

…………

"Captain, Asakuchi Squadron Leader sent someone to ask when to launch the attack." The messenger walked into the room and asked Muta Shinnosuke who was working on the map from a distance.

"Is Asakuchi ready? Tell him that at 8 o'clock, the infantry will break through from the left wing, and we need artillery to open a gap."

"Before that, I will arrange for the Nonaka troops to make a feint attack from the front, and we need to use artillery shells to attract the surrounding enemies."

Muta Shinnosuke climbed up from the map and nodded.

Muta Shinnosuke has basically figured out the latest situation on the battlefield. There are 26 squadrons around them, which is equivalent to a brigade of infantry.

The troops are probably twice as many as them, more than 4,000 people, but not much more. After all, this is an old city with complicated streets, and it is not convenient to have too many people.

The sources of these 26 squadrons are also complicated. One part comes from the 1st and 2nd Divisions, one part comes from the 4th Division that came to support, and one part comes from the local garrison squadron.

As for the National Self-Defense Force, they can only be regarded as militia. They are okay as civilian laborers in logistics. In frontal combat, Muta Shinnosuke did not count them into the total enemy forces.

"Order, the special reinforcement squadron, Kondo Squadron, Nibu Squadron, a total of 700 people, move to Mito Street, and the Nonaka unit of 500 people, prepare to launch a feint attack from the front."

"7:40, the Nonaka unit should start the attack immediately."

...

"Is that so? I understand." Asaguchi Yamada looked at the watch. It was 7:20, and time was running out.

"The 2nd Artillery Detachment is ready. Each gun will fire two high-explosive shells to support the frontal battle. The target of the artillery attack is the barricade on the 1st Street. Fire on time at 7:30:8."

"Tell this order to Muta-kun. Tell him that the shells are limited and the frontal feint attack will not receive the second batch of artillery support."

Asakuchi Yamada looked at the artillery staff. The artillery staff opened his mouth, but finally said nothing.

"What? It's just a feint. Do you need to use 12 shells?" Muta Shinnosuke hesitated after hearing the news.

In the end, based on the idea of ​​not sacrificing the child to catch the wolf, and thinking of keeping a hand, Wan Yezhongbu also made a breakthrough, he agreed to this plan.

12 shells are not many, but Japan is a resource-scarce country and is more sensitive to resource consumption. In addition, they have lost logistics and lost a lot of shells.

So when Nonaka heard that his feint mission would be supported by 12 artillery shells, he took the initiative to call and request to reduce it to 6 shells, and asked that the 6 shells be fired in 3 batches, 2 shells each time.

The reason why Nonaka asked this was because he really wanted to win, and this night attack was their last chance.

Because if he failed, suicide would be his best destination, but even so, his family would suffer in the future.

If he was captured, he would be tortured both mentally and physically.

In the past, those officers who assassinated ministers did it alone or in small groups, but this time it was a large-scale rebellion, which was completely different in nature.

Want to get a lighter sentence? Nonaka felt that it was unlikely, so he did this, with the purpose of saving shells for Muta Shinnosuke's main force.

Although Muta Shinnosuke only had 700 men, only 200 more than his 500 men, Muta Shinnosuke's troops were the combat troops of the main division, and his troops were the second-line garrison troops. The combat effectiveness of the two was completely different.

At least, the field troops were all veterans and had completed complete military training, while the second-line garrison troops were mostly recruits, and their military training had also been reduced.

The skeletons of those special divisions formed after the war began were drawn from the second-line garrison troops, especially the squad leaders and sergeants, who drew away most of the veterans of the garrison troops, and their combat effectiveness declined sharply.

…

What could Asakuchi Yamada say? Of course he agreed. He was not satisfied with just such a small amount of artillery shells.

After a while, the time came to 7:39, and Asakuchi Yamada sat in the tent and nodded to the artillery staff.

The artillery staff picked up the phone: "Operation begins!"

"Shoot!"

Boom!

Boom!

Two cannons opened fire, and a few seconds later, two flames appeared in the distance.

Dinglingling~~

"Moses, this is the artillery position." The artillery staff answered another call.

As expected, this was from Nozaka.

"This is Nozaka, the soldiers are charging, you are very accurate, you hit the house directly, and all the enemies inside are dead." Nozaka praised.

The artillery staff was stunned for a moment, because their target should be the barricade.

"Just now my scout reported that the enemy is retreating to the rear, they gathered on the second street, right now, we need artillery fire."

"Hai! Please tell the warriors to find cover."

"Extend 200 meters, second round of shooting."

The artillery staff held a phone in one hand, mainly serving as a transmission.

Boom!

Boom!

"Good job! Haha, the enemy has been divided. Occupy the collapsed house and push the enemy out."

The artillery staff could hear Nonaka's excited shouts and knew that the battle was going well, but he didn't know if he missed the target this time.

After that, Nonaka didn't ask for artillery support for a long time, but Asaguchi Yamada knew from the complicated orders he heard on the phone that Nonaka was not having an easy time.

"That's all Nonaka's troops can do. I request a third round of artillery fire. The target is the intersection of the 3rd Street and the 2nd Street. There are many enemies gathered there."

"Hai, I got it." The artillery staff looked at the map, quickly calculated the parameters, and reported them to the artillery.

Boom!

Boom!

This time, the artillery didn't miss the target. The shells fell directly on both sides of the designated street. The huge explosion shock wave of the 120mm high-explosive bomb killed or injured the Japanese troops on both sides of the street, and directly lost their combat effectiveness.

Nonaka's troops quickly occupied the intersection and moved towards the 3rd Street.

Unfortunately, the Nonaka troops had no friendly support, and the follow-up troops needed to be used to secure the occupied areas, not to expand the breakthrough.

Entering the 3rd Street, Nonaka had already mobilized the reserve troops, and the defending Japanese troops had also reacted and concentrated here, and the pressure on the Nonaka troops suddenly increased.

By 8 o'clock, the Nonaka troops of 500 people only occupied two streets, which was the result of two unexpected attacks and artillery.

If Muta had broken through from here at the beginning, he might have broken through two lines of defense, and then he would not be far from the Imperial Palace.

Unfortunately, Muta did not do so, because the enemy in front was strong, and he subconsciously chose to break through the flank.

At 8 o'clock, 6 high-explosive bombs fell more than 600 meters in front of Muta Shinnosuke, followed by 6 shrapnel shells.

After two rounds of sweeping, there were few people resisting on the first line of the front, and Muta led the main force to break through quickly.

In ten minutes, he broke through the defensive positions of two squadrons in succession and broke out of the first layer of encirclement.

Then, Muta Shinnosuke turned east and rushed towards the Imperial Palace, but he happened to meet a squad of the 2nd Division that was being pulled from the flank to support Nonaka's attack.

This squad also carried a heavy machine gun and stopped at a barricade at the end of the street. At this time, the artillery of the 1st and 2nd Divisions fired flares.

The machine guns began to work, and Muta lost more than a dozen soldiers in a few seconds, and the first charge failed.

This barricade was capped with sandbags, and building materials were piled on the front. Shrapnel could not cause effective damage because it exploded in the air.

Muta Shinnosuke had already left the rear and could not contact the artillery to replace the shells or adjust the fuses. He could only use signal flares to command whether to fire and where to fire. For the rest, he could only wait for the artillery to find out.

At 8:28, more and more soldiers began to surround Muta. Except for the 4th Division in the rear, everyone received various orders and started to act.

The purpose of the night attack was to attack by surprise. Muta Shinnosuke knew that although the artillery had knocked down the barricade, he had failed again.

"What? You've arrived? Very good, our unit will provide you with artillery support now."

"The 2nd Artillery Detachment, change the artillery target, move 5 degrees to the left, 3.4 kilometers away, 6 rounds of rapid fire, 50 meters between each round of artillery fire."

"The reinforcements have arrived, and in front of them is the last line of defense of the 1st and 2nd Divisions. Victory is at hand, act immediately."

Asaguchi Yamada answered the phone and said excitedly.

"This coordinate is so familiar..." The artillery staff looked at the map at the first time.

Bang!

Asakuchi Yamada put away his revolver, looked at the imaginative artillery staff, picked up the phone, and repeated the order.

Most of these artillerymen were recruited after the war began. They were not well trained and were not familiar with the terrain of Kyoto. When they heard the order, they started adjusting the parameters without saying a word.

Boom!

Boom!

Rumble...

After a while, the fierce artillery bombardment began. In less than a minute, the remaining 36 high-explosive bombs were all fired...