Odawara Castle has become the economic and cultural center of Sagami Province and one of the most prosperous cities in the entire Kanto region since the first guardian Daimyo Hojo Sakumo established Sagami Province, and after many years of painstaking management, when Sagami Country passed into the hands of the second generation of guardian Hojo clan, Odawara Castle has become the economic and cultural center of Sagami Province and one of the most prosperous cities in the entire Kanto region.

Of course, prosperity is only relative to other cities in the country, compared with Hangzhou, Yangzhou and Nanjing, which are all capitals, it is estimated that they are not even worthy of carrying shoes, and their scale is equivalent to the second and third tier of the Ming Dynasty, with a permanent population of more than 100,000.

However, the city defense of Odawara Castle is not to be underestimated, the city wall is more than ten meters high, the circumference is about five miles, all made of bricks and stones, it is very strong, the defenders are up to 30,000 people, it is not easy to break the city.

Xie Sangun wanted to take Odawara Castle in one go, but he was met with stubborn resistance from the defenders, causing many brothers to be killed and wounded.

Xie Sangun rushed to the position of the Shenji Battalion in a hurry, and found that the brothers of the Shenji Battalion were setting up the camp in an orderly manner, and continuously carrying supplies from the ship, forming ladders, arrow towers, gunpowder, and even dozens of ship-borne Franc machine guns were dismantled.

Xie Sangun's eyes couldn't help but light up, and at the same time he was secretly ashamed, sure enough, Jiang was still old and spicy, he only cared about rushing and fighting, he was too impatient, he committed a taboo in the soldiers, looking at Lao Wang, not in a hurry, ready to be full, no wonder they all said that Lao Wang was the most stable of the three tiger generals under his brother-in-law, if he didn't fight with Lao Wang this time, he would lead the troops alone, maybe he would suffer a big loss.

"General Xie, come here, I'm looking for you!" Wang Lin'er beckoned in the distance, and there were still a group of generals from the Shenji Battalion next to him, probably discussing the siege of the city.

Xie Sangun hurriedly greeted him and saluted: "Subordinates, see General Wang!" ”

Wang Lin'er said: "General Xie led the army to land first, and the general has already given you the first credit. ”

Xie Sangun hurriedly said: "The subordinates risk the failure of the attack on the city, and it is right to be punished, then dare to take the first credit." ”

When the generals heard this, they couldn't help but have a good impression of Xie Sangun, who was high but not arrogant, and knew how to self-examine, and was a sincere person.

Wang Lin'er said solemnly: "Meritorious service, passing is excessive, it was your battalion that landed first, and the first merit is well deserved, as for the siege of the city, it is indeed reckless, fortunately, the loss is not large, the courage is commendable, and the feelings are willing, the general will not be investigated, but the next will not be an example." ”

"General Xie Wang!" Xie Sangun arched his hand and said loudly.

Wang Lin'er nodded and said: "Time is limited, now let's discuss how to attack the city, the marshal only gives me ten days, and I must take Sagami and Kai within ten days." ”

Then the generals will gather together, and you will discuss the countermeasures with you and me. Xie Sangun was originally smart and clever, plus he had studied under Wang Shouren for two years, had solid military theories, and had certain combat experience, so he quickly put forward a complete set of attack plans, and even Wang Lin'er couldn't help nodding his head after hearing it.

Xie Sangun couldn't help but increase his confidence when he saw this, although he was the champion of the new science and martial arts, but he was still the handsome brother-in-law, plus the firearms of all the three thousand Beijing battalions under his command, it was inevitable that he would be crowned with the hat of "relation" by the red-eyed people, it was in a hurry to prove himself that he was so aggressive today, and then his mentality calmed down, and the real level was brought into play, after all, he had studied under Wang Shouren for two years, and Lao Wang was not in vain.

After discussing the countermeasures, everyone dispersed and began preparations for the siege in an orderly manner.

The sun passed noon, about two o'clock in the afternoon, the war drums sounded, the well-fed and well-fed Ming army opened the battle formation, ready to attack the city, a piece of artillery was pushed to the front of the formation, as well as bed crossbows, ladders, arrow towers and other siege weapons.

The defenders at the head of the city looked down at the city, and they were all frightened, just the muzzles of those black holes were scary enough, how could this battle be fought?

Rumble......

The first to fire was not the Ming artillery under the city, but the Hongyi cannon on the Ming army's ship, this thing has a long range and is powerful, and it can bombard the city wall directly on the ship, unlike the Franc cannon, which must be removed from the ship and transported to the city to be obtained.

Boom, boom, three Hongyi cannons fired one after another, dozens of pounds of cannonballs dragged the long tail of flames, like the hammer of the gods, slammed heavily on the city wall, and the masonry on the surface was torn apart on the spot, and the entire city wall fell into a terrifying hole.

However, the walls of Odawara Castle are also thick enough, but they have not been directly pierced, if the cannonballs are hit on the city gate, it is estimated that the city gate will be abolished directly, but unfortunately the power of the Hongyi cannon is fierce, but the accurate head is not very good, in the sea across five or six miles, it is too difficult to hit the city gate, only one of the three shots just now hit the city wall, and two more shots fell into the city, just blowing up the buildings in the city.

Despite this, the defenders at the head of the city were still frightened by these three heavy cannons, and they had not fully recovered from the horror, and the artillery and bed crossbows of the Ming army under the city were also powerful, which was a completely devastating blow, and the shells rained down on the city, blowing up the Japanese army and causing heavy casualties.

Knock knock knock......

In the agitated war drums, the Ming army swarmed out and attacked the city wall from the south gate and the east gate respectively, and large equipment such as siege vehicles, arrow towers, and ladders were pushed out.

Bang bang bang......

The Ming army condescendingly shot at the defenders on the head of the city from the arrow tower, and the defenders returned fire with arrows, and countless Ming troops jumped on the cloud ladder to the top of the city, and were repulsed by the stubborn defenders.

The weapon advantage of the Ming army is undoubtedly overwhelming, but the defenders are outnumbered, and occupy the geographical advantage, this battle has been dusk, the Ming army finally failed to break the city, and finally retreated like a tide, returned to the camp to bury the pot and cook, leaving it to fight again tomorrow.

Early in the morning of the second day, the Ming army launched another round of artillery bombardment and launched a fierce attack, on this day, although the Ming army also failed to break the city, but the number of attacks on the city was significantly more than yesterday, and the resistance of the defenders was weakening.

Early in the morning of the third day, just as the Ming army was preparing to attack the city after the artillery bombardment, the city gate was opened, and a cavalry rushed out of it and fiercely charged in front of the Ming army, and the target was obviously those artillery.

That's right, it's a cavalry, small in number, only a thousand people, but it is extremely fierce, and its long swords glean in the morning sun with a terrifying chill.

The Kanto region is dominated by plains, and the Kanto region is also famous for its cavalry, and it just so happens that Sagami Province also has its own cavalry, which is the hidden trump card under the command of the Hojo clan. In the past few days, the Japanese army in the city was frightened by the artillery bombardment of the Ming army and suffered a lot, so the Hojo clan decided to send cavalry today to surprise the artillery of the Ming army and completely solve this biggest threat.

However, the Hojo clan miscalculated, as the so-called knowing oneself and knowing the other, a hundred battles will not be defeated, Wang Lin'er is an old fritter who has been in battle for a long time, how can he be so careless, he has already figured out the family background of the Hojo clan, and naturally knows that the other party has cavalry under his command, and the reason why the artillery array is so close to the front is completely a bait!

At this time, it was the Hojo clan who led the cavalry, he rode his horse and raised his sword, pointed forward with his sword, and shouted: "Kill the Ming army, destroy their artillery!" ”

At this time, the artillery of the Ming army had already emptied the shells, and the Japanese cavalry wanted to seize this gap to destroy the artillery of the Ming army!

"Kill!" This Kwantung cavalry shouted and rushed over, but suddenly a drum sounded, and two Ming armies suddenly rushed out from the two wings of the artillery array, these Ming troops were infantry, but they were not in a hurry in front of the opposing cavalry, they quickly lined up in three teams, squatted down and shot out, and immediately retreated to the two wings after shooting, revealing the second row of Ming troops, and the second row of Ming troops immediately opened fire, and withdrew from both wings after shooting......

In this way, when the Ming army in the third row finished shooting, the Ming army in the first row had already reloaded the ammunition and lined up to the end, which was the famous three-stage attack.

This method of warfare was actually pioneered by the general Mu Ying in the early Ming Dynasty, and it was not until nearly a hundred years later that there was a dwarf in Europe, named Napoleon, and he also swept almost the entire Europe with this tactic, but he did not know that in the distant eastern country, someone had already used this tactic.

Yongle Emperor Zhu Di also used this method of warfare to deal with the Mongolian cavalry that came and went like the wind, but he used it with artillery, first of all, a round of artillery bombardment, disrupting the formation of the Mongolian cavalry, deterring the opponent, and then the musket of the Shenji battalion was fired in turn, and then his own cavalry killed and slashed with it, and finally the infantry pressed on. After these three axes, even the most powerful Mongol cavalry had to kneel.

As the saying goes, if you are not afraid of tens of millions of moves, you are afraid that you will practice the same move thousands of times, and Zhu Di relied on these three axes to kill the Mongolian cavalry. Although the Kwantung Army was powerful, it was obviously far behind the Mongol cavalry.

Although there was no artillery bombardment of the first plate axe, but now the Ming army's flintlock pistol is not known how many times more powerful than the fire in the Yongle period, under the continuous fire, this Kwantung cavalry quickly collapsed, and even the Hojo clan was shot and fell off his horse.

So when this fierce Kwantung cavalry was killed near the artillery array, only hundreds of horses were left, and the panicked Japanese samurai were left.

At this time, the cavalry of the Shenji Battalion hidden behind the formation suddenly came out, and the remaining Kwantung cavalry was wiped out in an instant.

"Rush over!" Lu Deshui took the lead, leading a thousand horsemen of the Shenji Battalion to the city gate, especially like a wild dragon into the city.

The Hojo clan at the head of the castle was so frightened that his hands and feet were cold, and he shouted: "Close the city gate, close the city gate!" ”

It's a pity that everything was too late, Lu Deshui led a thousand horsemen to rush into the city, rushed left and right on the street, and soon controlled the city gate street......

On May 18, the fifth year of Jiajing, Odawara Castle was broken, and all members of the Hojo family became prisoners of the Ming army.

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