Chapter 1622: Schemes Only Work When Strength Is Comparable

The sky grew darker and darker. Soon, a cold, clear black curtain began to replace the golden twilight, slowly concealing Naitō Tadashige's army within the blurring night.

By this time, Ma Tongji had also arrived with his troops. His objective was to sever the roads connecting Nagasaki Castle to the outside world, turning the city into a completely isolated fortress, so his march was extremely swift.

Along the way, he encountered only scattered enemy soldiers, whom he easily routed. What he encountered more of were civilians — citizens from within Nagasaki Castle and villagers from the surrounding countryside, driven out by the shogunate's earlier emergency evacuation order. Even more people chose to flee far away to escape the Great Han's military advance.

Although the shogunate issued an evacuation order, it prepared no food, provided no protection or transport, and did not even designate a destination. These civilians, without food or clothing, soon could walk no further. They were scattered with their families across the countryside outside Nagasaki Castle, and the wailing and weeping of children and women could be heard from several li away — a scene of utter misery.

To maintain combat efficiency, the Great Han officers and soldiers were strictly forbidden from looting or plundering during operations. So although many civilians had fled with their valuables, no one took the opportunity to prey upon them. However, because of rumors spread by the shogunate and among the populace, and because the Great Han army kept killing any shogunate troops who tried to resist, these civilians, women and children, wailed even louder at the sight of the Great Han soldiers and fled in panic. Even children who had fallen scrambled up desperately, stumbling and staggering forward, as though pursued by evil spirits.

Ma Tongji rode his horse, advancing with his soldiers' orderly marching steps, occasionally surveying the surroundings with his telescope. In the distance were cities and villages burning with fierce flames, and civilians, women and children in motley clothes fleeing in all directions. Corpses lay everywhere — some killed by the Great Han army, some dead from looting among the civilians, and even many children trampled to death. Against the fiery red backdrop, he felt as if he were standing at the gates of what the Buddhists call hell.

Yet, despite the apparent misery, Ma Tongji's heart was utterly unmoved. He simply kept a stern face, watching everything before him without the slightest change of expression.

War is just like this. Ever since he entered the army to lead troops into battle, he had long embraced this understanding. Anyone who has fought for several years finds it very hard to still feel pity for others. He only cared whether his combat objectives were achieved — nothing more.

To further increase the defensive pressure on Nagasaki Castle, he deliberately drove the civilians toward Nagasaki. Those who fled in other directions he did not bother with, simply pressing onward.

Several staff officers beside him, while marching, surveyed the terrain in the twilight and compared it with the maps in their hands to confirm their current position.

Ever since the decision to attack Japan, collecting topographical data on various Japanese regions had been a top priority. When Zhou Pu came to Japan, several of his attendants were personnel sent by the military specifically responsible for drawing maps to serve as references for the army's advance.

For various reasons, these men's range of activity was not particularly wide, and they had not set foot across the entirety of Kyushu. Still, they did their utmost to map Kyushu through various means, with the Nagasaki area being the most detailed.

Although these maps could not be perfect, they still added considerable convenience to the Great Han army's planning and command.

"How much longer until we arrive?" Ma Tongji asked a staff officer beside him.

"Reporting to the Regiment Commander, we are now not far from the outer relay stations," the staff officer replied, gesturing with the map before him. "These relay stations are all on the mandatory routes out of Nagasaki. As long as we occupy these strongpoints, or at least cut off passage on these roads, Nagasaki will be a dead city!"

"Very good." Ma Tongji smiled, then flicked his horsewhip with his right hand, urging his horse forward. "Speed up the march! We make camp only after reaching the objective, and then we eat dinner!"

His words drew a round of laughter, and everyone quickened their pace along with the Regiment Commander.

Because they had split their forces into two routes, his unit numbered only a little over a thousand men, but looking out, it was still a vast red sea, enough to give him immense confidence. Theoretically, he was now deep in enemy territory, yet he cared not one bit, without a trace of fear or hesitation.

All these years, he had been fighting in the southwestern regions. He had seen and climbed every kind of treacherous mountain and foul river, often leading just a handful of troops deep into enemy lands, sometimes even getting lost. He had fought who knows how many battles under such conditions — what fear could there possibly be?

However, though inwardly proud and convinced that his troops were absolutely superior to the enemy, years of experience had also taught him never to let his guard down. So throughout the march, he remained highly attentive to the surrounding situation, lest the enemy spring an ambush.

His subordinates, too, were veterans of many years of war, every one of them rich in experience. They also kept watch in all directions to guard against a surprise attack.

"Regiment Commander, halt for a moment! Something seems off over there!" After marching for a stretch, one staff officer suddenly reined in his horse and called out to Ma Tongji, pointing ahead. "Regiment Commander, please look!"

Alerted by his warning, Ma Tongji raised his telescope and looked into the distance.

Opposite them was a small hill, right beside the road they had to pass. The trees on this hill were extremely dense. Since it was now nearly nightfall, only a faint remnant of light lingered among the dim silhouettes, so he could not see very clearly.

In the haze, there indeed seemed to be some human figures moving.

Because it was so blurry, Ma Tongji could not draw a direct conclusion, but a gut instinct born of years of military experience told him that there was likely a real problem there. At the very least, they could not simply pass by that spot.

"So now we're seeing enemies in every bush and tree... everyone's gotten jumpy." Ma Tongji could not help but laugh at himself.

"Regiment Commander, that place... seems a bit strange." Just then, another staff officer came to his side and said, "That spot is on high ground and can control the road below — an ideal location for an ambush. If I were the enemy, I would probably set an ambush there and catch us off guard."

"So they want to spring a sudden ambush on us?" Ma Tongji laughed again. "They don't stop to think — with their meager skills, can they really fool us? Those barbarian tribes we ran into in the great mountains were far better at camouflage than they are, and when it came to fighting, weren't they still sent scrambling all over the place by us? Well then, whether it's just our imagination or there really are men there, let's send them some fireworks first!"

With that, he waved his hand heavily.

The staff officers beside him understood immediately and went off to make their arrangements. Soon, a small squad of soldiers emerged from the marching column. These men were in teams of three, and beside them were small cannons mounted on little gun carriages.

These cannons had very small calibers, and thanks to advances in the Great Han's precision metalworking, their barrels were also very thin. Thus, they were small in size and light in weight — a single draft horse could pull them along, and when necessary, they could even be dragged by a few soldiers. Although their small caliber meant their power was not great, their portability and ease of use still made them the ideal field artillery for the army's various units.

In the end, this was taking advantage of the fact that the surrounding enemies lacked sufficient firepower — even these small cannons could suppress them.

Under the Regiment Commander's orders, the artillerymen quickly made their preparations and, based on the estimated distance, adjusted the muzzles' orientation using the small gun carriages.

It was now night, so precise ranging and adjustment were undoubtedly impossible. But originally, there was no need for precise adjustment, because at this moment, coverage was more important than firepower. If the enemy was lying in ambush in the mountain forest, they were surely packed tightly together and numerous, so they needed to cover as large an area as possible.

To achieve this, the gunners loaded the cannons with small steel balls. In a moment, propelled by the gunpowder, these projectiles would blanket the opposite forest in a dense rain of shot.

Once the gunners were fully ready, Ma Tongji walked to the front of the formation and carefully observed the terrain.

Then, his hand slashed down heavily.

"Fire!" The artillery officers immediately gave the order.

Flames suddenly burst from the cannon muzzles. This flash of light, gone in an instant, was intensely bright, like a sudden bolt of lightning in the sky, tearing through the night sky and making the torches held by the soldiers nearby seem dim by comparison.

Almost at the same moment the cannons roared, countless projectiles arced toward the distant forest with sharp, howling whistles, then fell rapidly like a dense rain of shot.

The dense rain of projectiles tore through the night sky without mercy, carrying away countless lives and spilling much blood. Under this bombardment, almost none of the shogunate soldiers lying in ambush beneath the trees and in the underbrush survived. Nearly every one of them was hit. Some were struck in vital spots and died instantly, while many more, in unbearable pain, had to rise from the ground. Their miserable screams and wails soon merged with the shrieking of the projectiles, adding even more terror to this gloomy night.

What was even more terrifying was that, because the projectiles were extremely hot and the weather was somewhat dry and sweltering, fires soon ignited in the mountain forest. The flames spread and leaped among the trees, quickly turning the area into a sea of fire. The blaze forced those inside to flee and struggle even more desperately. Seen from afar, black silhouettes darted about against the fiery red backdrop, exactly like lost souls dancing wildly in purgatory.

"Looks like they really were planning to ambush us. These dwarves do have some brains after all. Too bad for them, they ran into us — that's just their rotten luck."

However, Ma Tongji, who had fought for many years, had seen similar scenes plenty of times. So he was utterly unmoved, simply observing the bombardment's effects calmly through his telescope while mocking the enemy to ease the tension in his heart.

As the merciless bombardment continued, the blaze in the forest grew larger and larger, and more and more people chose to flee. They crashed into one another among the trees, scattering in all directions. Some even charged toward the Great Han army's formation, only to be wiped out one by one by the waiting Han soldiers. These men, already dazed and confused by the fire, could no longer tell which direction they were running.

Naitō Tadashige, directing the battle from the rear, watched his carefully planned ambush suffer total defeat before it had even begun. So enraged that his eyes nearly split, his hands trembled as he gripped his telescope tightly, almost as if he wanted to crush it.

He had originally intended to catch these Han soldiers off guard with an ambush, preventing them from leveraging their firepower advantage in the chaos of melee. But he had not expected these Great Han soldiers to be so cunning — they had seen through his scheme and directly bombarded his ambush troops, inflicting severe losses.

The ambush force was not large, but to maximize the chaos inflicted on the Great Han army, they were all elite soldiers led by samurai. He had never imagined that before they even engaged, they would suffer such a devastating blow!

"Charge! Kill all these Han dogs!"

He could endure it no longer and immediately ordered his own troops to launch a charge against these Great Han soldiers. At the same time, he sent men to relay orders for Soga Koyū in Nagasaki to also attack the Great Han forces, striking from both sides with superior numbers to ensure these Great Han troops would never return.

However, because the width of the front was insufficient, to prevent his large force from trampling one another in the darkness, he could not send all several thousand men charging at once. He could only let the vanguard of a thousand or so lead the assault, then gradually send reinforcements, slowly grinding these Han troops to death.

Upon receiving the Elder's orders, the troops in his formation immediately surged forward. Although they could not fully maintain their formation in the dark of night, the sight of over a thousand dark silhouettes charging forward with battle cries was still enough to make one's heart quiver.

"Heh, quite a lot of them."

Ma Tongji immediately aimed his telescope in the direction of the shouts. In the curtain of night, nothing was very clear, but he could still estimate from the volume of the shouts and the mass of dark figures that the enemy numbered over a thousand.

And just at that moment, the shouts of charging soldiers and the chaotic sound of footsteps also came from the direction of Nagasaki. Ma Tongji quickly turned to look and found that indeed, a mass of people was surging over from that side as well.

It seemed they had coordinated to swallow up his force.

"We've run into a big fish! They must have gone all out!" Yet, even though it appeared he was now in grave danger, he felt no fear whatsoever. Instead, he shouted excitedly, "Once this battle is over, it'll be a great merit! Brothers, cut loose and fight!"

His shout made all the soldiers boil with excitement, and they let out a cheer.

But Ma Tongji had, after all, led troops in battle for many years. Outwardly he appeared arrogant, but inwardly he was not nearly so reckless — in fact, he had grown considerably more tense.

If it were daytime, he would not fear the enemy no matter how many routes they attacked from; he had complete confidence in his subordinates. But at night, it was hard to say — after all, the darkness affected the Great Han army's firearms far too severely. He was not afraid of losing, but if they suffered heavy casualties the moment they set foot on Kyushu, that would be an unbearable loss for him.

He looked all around, his mind racing as he began to ponder a counter-strategy.

Then, very quickly, he made up his mind.

"The entire army, concentrate! Form up centered on my position!" He drew his saber and stabbed it heavily into the ground at his feet. "Form ranks!"

Although the current lighting conditions were extremely poor, after years of training and actual combat, his soldiers had long since drilled strict formation habits. Forming ranks under all kinds of conditions had become second nature to them. Very quickly, several large formations took shape centered on Ma Tongji, with pikemen pushed to the outside and the artillerymen protected within their encirclement.

"Artillery, prepare to fire — bombard the enemy troops coming from the Nagasaki direction!" Ma Tongji continued issuing orders. "First Battalion, follow me! Everyone else, hold your ground against the enemy and make sure to protect the artillery!"

Then, shouting commands to several officers, he led his First Battalion with him as they moved toward the small hill he had just heavily shelled, which was still blazing fiercely.

The artillery needed to be retracted and redeployed, and then prepared for bombardment again — their movement speed was certainly not fast, so a large force had to be left behind here to protect them. But over a thousand men packed together would also severely hamper the effectiveness of their musket fire, so Ma Tongji decided to split off half his men to form ranks off to the side.

This way, the two positions would act as mutual horns, fully exploiting his troops' firepower advantage. Moreover, the burning mountain forest would ultimately allow him to set his back against it, eliminating the worry of being attacked from all sides. What was more, the blazing forest could provide sufficient light, making it easier for his troops to use their muskets to fend off the enemy.

Following his orders, the military formation quickly began to shift. A portion of the men started moving forward with him, but because of the night and the clamor everywhere, the interweaving formations inevitably caused some confusion. And at this moment, the enemy troops had already charged to a point very close to the front of the formation.

"Fire!" When the enemy reached a certain distance, the musketeers at the front of the formation opened fire on their officers' command, cutting down quite a few of the enemy. However, because the curtain of shot was not very dense, the overall effect was not great.

Yet the shogunate soldiers who were not felled showed no fear whatsoever, continuing to shout battle cries as they hurled themselves at the Great Han army's formation. Most of them held long spears in their hands; some carried greatswords.

Their attitude of utterly disregarding casualties finally caused some wavering among the Great Han troops. But at this moment, the artillery's turning and loading work was at last completed. The pikemen at the front immediately pulled back, clearing the artillery's field of view.

These charging shogunate troops saw, before the Great Han army's formation, the muzzles of the cannons gleaming with a dark, cold light.

"Fire!" the artillery officer shouted, his voice tinged with tension.

The ignited fuse quickly triggered an explosion within the cannon's narrow chamber. The immense propulsive force generated by the explosion, like the hand of a giant, forcibly hurled the shot out. The projectiles, carrying a sharp shriek, hammered densely into the charging enemy troops.