Chapter 910: Traces and Clues

"Zhitian Shanze, Maoli Yousheng, you two bastards!"

The moment the war broke out, his side fell into a disadvantage, and Watanabe cursed loudly.

He had not expected that in order to use the four Northern Domains to deal with him, the Yan Wang would actually sell them artillery as well.

Beforehand, he had only grasped the news that the other side had obtained firearms.

At this moment, in his line of sight, the soldiers on the city wall were filled with fear in their eyes.

Facing the cannonballs flying overhead, they could only squat under the battlements to take cover.

The artillerymen were helpless against the Coalition artillery outside their range and could only fret in anxiety.

The bombardment was round after round, as if it would never cease.

Cannonballs like raindrops constantly slammed into the city wall.

They could even feel the tremors of the city wall when the cannonballs struck.

The battlements were constantly being blown to pieces by the cannonballs, and falling rubble struck the soldiers below, causing shrill screams.

"Hold on, you must hold on." Watanabe said these words to the soldiers, and also as if to himself.

Kuki Shi had already set out and was currently setting an ambush.

As long as this most formidable cavalry general of Dongying defeated the Yan King Army.

The situation on the battlefield would immediately reverse.

Just as he was thinking this, a general suddenly shouted, "Their soldiers are approaching."

Watanabe was startled, immediately poked his head out, and looked toward the foot of the city wall.

It turned out that thousands of Coalition soldiers were approaching Baihe City in loose formations.

These soldiers walked and stopped, seemingly looking for suitable cover on the battlefield.

He was no longer unfamiliar with this kind of tactic.

It was precisely the Skirmisher Tactics of the Yan King Army.

These skirmishers would be distributed everywhere outside the city, shooting at the soldiers who exposed their bodies on the city wall.

At the same time, the artillerymen had no way to deal with them.

Once they were all in position, the other side would likely launch a charge under the cover of these skirmishers.

"Damn it, you four bastards are really lucky; the Yan King Army has handed everything over to you, but history will ultimately prove that in front of the Westerners, the Yan Wang is nothing..." Watanabe said through gritted teeth.

Just then, a cannonball flew straight toward his position, interrupting his muttering.

Watanabe broke out in a cold sweat and instinctively threw himself onto the ground.

The cannonball struck the battlement directly above him, and the battlement collapsed with a boom, crashing down.

He instinctively rolled over again, and the battlement landed beside him.

"Great General, it is too dangerous here; please go down, leave this to us," Ogawa Tora said.

In this war, their Shogunate core had all been mobilized.

Kuki Jing was responsible for attacking the Yan King Army, while he was responsible for defending Baihe City with Watanabe.

At the same time, Konishi Masataka and Shimazu Nagamei accompanied Yamada Haruno to resist Beitiao Chuanqing and Ono Zhen.

Watanabe originally wanted to push Ogawa Tora away, but thinking that the most important thing was to wait for news from Kuki Jing, he descended the city wall.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..."

Just after he descended the city wall, gunfire indeed rang out outside the city.

Soldiers on the city wall who exposed their bodies to observe were shot and killed from time to time.

But the siege he had anticipated did not arrive.

The Coalition seemed to want to knock down the city wall, bombarding Baihe City continuously.

From afternoon to evening, and from evening to the next morning.

Just at this time.

Two thousand marines led by Pan Zhang, after landing at Edo, entered the valley northwest of Edo.

This valley was very long, with mountains on both sides, but the width varied.

Some places were as wide as twenty or thirty li, while some places were only two or three li wide.

"General, ahead is Yaita; this section of the valley is all very narrow, only three li wide. After passing Yaita, it is another fifty li to Baihe City," the general responsible for reconnaissance returned and reported to Pan Zhang.

Pan Zhang nodded upon hearing this.

This time, in order to complete the encirclement of Baihe City as quickly as possible.

He chose to travel light.

Apart from carrying Qin-style Rifles and hand grenades, they only carried some dry rations.

"Divide into six squads to pass through; three squads on the east side will handle the eastern forest, and three squads on the west side will be responsible for the western forest," Pan Zhang ordered.

As a general, the most basic quality was to be prepared for ambushes when passing through places suitable for them.

But this time, even if the other side had an ambush, he was still going to continue forward.

Because he was confident that he could deal with any ambush.

Furthermore, they were passing through the middle of the valley, more than one li away from the forests on both sides.

This was enough for them to make a response.

Moreover, if the marines equipped with Qin-style Rifles and hand grenades could not even deal with Dongying ambushers holding old-fashioned muskets.

They might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes.

But for the sake of caution, he still ordered the small squad responsible for scouting ahead to probe the situation in the forests on both sides.

The reconnaissance squad received the order and headed toward Yiban Valley.

Their arrival immediately made Kuki Jing, who was lying in ambush in the forest, nervous.

To avoid being discovered, they all hid on the back side of the mountain, and the horses' mouths were also tied shut.

A squad of soldiers entered the forest, and the Dongying soldiers even lay flat on the ground, not daring to move a muscle.

The Marine soldiers responsible for reconnaissance searched along the forest.

A soldier suddenly stepped on a clump of soft matter.

Lifting his foot, he tugged at his Flag Leader, signaling to him.

"Horse dung," the Flag Leader recognized at a glance.

In the Marines, they were specifically responsible for reconnaissance, and he had even learned quite a few reconnaissance techniques at the Military Academy.

He could discover suspicious signs from the slightest clues.

"Do not show anything unusual," the Flag Leader instructed the soldier.

Then he continued to observe and discovered that in the places they had passed, quite a bit of grass had been trampled, and branches and leaves had also been broken.

Some trees even had horse hair hanging from them, evidently rubbed off.

Having grasped these, they did not continue toward the mountain ridge, but instead immediately returned to the army to report this news to Pan Zhang.