If you open a map of Japan, there is a narrow blue area between the southern part of Honshu Island and the island of Shikoku, called the Seto Inland Sea.

The Seto Inland Sea in the harsh winter, the scenery is fresh and pleasant, only to see the blue sky and quiet sea, the green island and green shore, the wind and waves are slight, and the sail shadow is dotted.

In normal times, it is a refreshing thing to drive a light boat, invite close friends to two or three, cook wine and watch the scenery, and talk about your heart.

Awaji Island, located in the northeastern part of Shikoku Island, straddles the eastern end of the Seto Inland Sea, with Osaka Bay, Japan's second busiest bay to the east, Kii Suido, the main outlet from Osaka Bay to the Pacific Ocean, and Akashi Strait to the north, which is no more than five kilometers wide.

Lieutenant Colonel Lei Yuming, the head of the First Regiment of the Great Qing Imperial Guards, was holding the gang of a fishing boat at this time, holding a monocular, looking at the coast of the Akashi River in front of him, a quarter of an hour ago, he boarded this broken ship in a small fishing village called Iwaya at the northern end of Awaji Island, and under the obstruction of the monsoon from north to south, the entire transport fleet, including this small boat, was like a drunk man paddling a zigzag on the sea, slowly staggering northward, provoking Lei Yuming to hold his breath.

Lei Yuming has been unhappy these days.

First of all, he was severely reprimanded by Commander Ding Jieyun for setting fire to the corpses of more than 100 seppuku suicide victims in the remnants of the "Blood Sakura Team" in the Battle of Kyushu, and Ding Jieyun's words still echo in Lei Yuming's ears from time to time: "When you see such a tragic scene, are you not moved at all?" Even if you don't have such a touch, at least, as a soldier, you should have a minimum of respect for the enemy's spirit of swearing to the death. Taking a step back, is it the work of our dignified Imperial Praetorian Guard soldiers to desecrate the corpses of the dead? You've literally reduced yourself to the likes of wild bandits! Zhong Xiahuo was suddenly transferred back to China because he indulged your beastly nature, if you think I will be like him, then you are very wrong, before your regiment goes into battle, reflect on it! ”

Secondly, since landing in Japan for more than a month, a decent battle has not been fought, so forget it, on November 30, the Third Praetorian Guard Division landed at Maguan at the western end of Honshu with the headquarters of the first detachment of the rebel army, but it did not have the share of the First Janissary Regiment, and often preached among the officers and soldiers that "the first regiment is the first regiment, and it is the first wherever it goes" Lei Yuming felt very faceless, but in view of the fact that Ding Jieyun had just trained himself, Lei Yuming did not dare to express his dissatisfaction with his superiors, so he had to hold it in his stomach, It wasn't until he received the task of landing on the Akashi River with the 1st Marine Regiment that he was still in his mind.

In the end, Major Zhao Minhe, the commander of the second battalion, who had been against him everywhere since the Second Neutralization Campaign, was actually selected by Ding Jieyun to serve as the first liaison officer in the Dispatch Army Command and was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel. Thinking that he was likely to be under the surveillance of his former subordinates, Lei Yuming was jealous and hateful, but he was helpless.

"Only by letting Commander Ding see more of my combat exploits can I change my fate!" Lei Yuming has been cheering himself up like this since he led his troops to land on Shikoku Island on December 7, but on Shikoku Island, he still can't achieve the great feats he dreamed of. As soon as the allied forces landed on the landing of the rebel forces, Lieutenant General Fukuguchi Senta, the commander of the 10th Division of the rebel army stationed in Shikoku, led his troops to surrender to Makoto, and the headquarters was organized into the Shikoku Army of the Rebel Army, and immediately assisted the allied forces in occupying Awaji Island as a springboard for advancing to the area around Osaka Bay.

On December 15, 1894, Lei Yuming finally got his wish and embarked on his own journey, when he was twenty-eight years old, and on this day, a group of soldiers much younger than him were about to pay with their blood and lives for victory—and for his exploits.

※※※

At noon, more than 400 men of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marine Regiment crossed the Akashi Strait in 20 small fishing boats and landed on the coast of Osui in the eastern part of Akashigawa Port.

After Major Li Wei, commander of the 1st Battalion, who graduated from the 91st class of the Imperial Army University, led his troops to land, he quickly ordered the 1st and 2nd companies to occupy several small dirt slopes around them to consolidate the landing grounds, while the 3rd Company was responsible for clearing the rebel strongholds that had been bombarded by naval artillery. The battalion headquarters was located behind the position of a company, reinforced by three 80-mm mortars that had only recently been issued to the troops, and although this simple weapon looked inconspicuous, it could provide limited artillery support for troops up to three kilometers, and more importantly, it was so easy to carry that two people could carry a gun, whereas before that, the most "light" five- or seven-mm mountain guns in the Imperial Army required at least two horses to tow their gun wagons or carry them.

The task Li Wei received from the regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Shen Xingyi, was to command the first battalion to occupy and clear the beachhead, build a beachhead, and cover the landing of the follow-up troops.

At this moment, Li Wei was standing next to a heavy Makqin machine gun deployed on the main position of the first company, and Captain Zhong Tian, the commander of the first company, was busy urging his subordinates to dig trenches.

"It shouldn't be a problem." Li Wei thought to himself, called the correspondent, and asked him to recall the third company back to the beachhead.

Not long after, Lieutenant Jiang Zhi of the Third Company led more than 100 of his subordinates to come back with a pile of loot, including rifles, arquebuses, longbows and Japanese swords, Li Wei became angry when he saw it: "Company Commander Jiang, what did you do, I asked you to clean up the enemy's stronghold, and I didn't let you pick up the rags, what did you do with this pile of scrap copper and rotten iron!" ”

Jiang Zhi touched his bare head and smiled honestly: "The loot, it's always useful, the brothers like it, I'll let them take it." ”

Li Wei smiled bitterly and shook his head: "You, you...... Well, take your company to the west to fortify around the small dirt slope, pay attention to digging trenches and anti-artillery holes, and besides, the enemy is not allowed to go up for hand-to-hand combat until he is approaching. ”

"Understood." Jiang Zhi saluted and went with Sanlian.

Li Wei looked at his back and said to Zhong Tian, the commander of the company next to him: "Company Commander Zhong, do you think that officers who are not from professional classes always owe something to their shortcomings?" ”

Zhong Tian was stunned for a moment and looked at Jiang Zhi: "The battalion commander is talking about Company Commander Jiang, you just transferred to our regiment, and you don't know some of the situation." ”

Li Wei looked at Zhong Tian: "What's the situation?" ”

"Before going abroad, he was only a first-class soldier who had served for three years, and his usual performance was good, but he never went to military school. Soon after landing in Korea, the company commander fell ill and died, and the second company commander died in the Zhonghe battlefield after less than 20 days in power, and later in Pyongkang, three company commanders and eight platoon commanders died in seven days, and the backbone of the company was almost completely gone. Our Jiang company commander, because he fought hard and took good care of the brothers around him, the newly recruited soldiers respected him very much, and the former battalion commander Hu also valued him, first promoted him to squad leader, and then said some good things to Lu. After the end of the battle of Zhonghe, he became a sergeant platoon commander, and in the battle of Pingkang, there were more than 400 people in the battalion, including Battalion Commander Hu, eighty percent of the brothers were finished, but his platoon only died five from beginning to end, and the position was full of Japanese corpses. At that time, veterans were rare, so our regiment commander sponsored Lu Shang, and made an exception to let him be promoted to three levels in the company, and lead the company commander as a lieutenant. ”

"......I see," Li Wei thought for a while, and then said: "However, after all, I still have to go to the military academy to cultivate and cultivate, and when this battle is over, I will recommend it to Lu Shang and let Company Commander Jiang enter the military academy for further study." ”

"Our head of the regiment is already planning to do so." Zhong Tian said.

"Oh...... That's good, that's good. Li Wei nodded, turned around, and just saw a small hill on the opposite side of the railway, faintly revealing a hint of red, or was it white?

"Enemy! There are enemies! The shouts of the sentinels spread over the positions of the first company, and then overflowed over the positions of the second company, and at the end of the day, this warning was issued by Jiang Zhi, who was running towards the predetermined position.

"Oh no, enemy cavalry!" Li Wei found smoke and dust, found war horses, and found flags—the white-background sunburst battle flags usurped by the rebels.

"Pay attention to a company, and prepare all live ammunition!" Zhong Tian gave the order in time, jumped behind the machine gun, and urged the machine gunner to turn the gun and aim at the enemy cavalry group that had crossed the railway tracks.

"The enemy is charging three companies, one company, hurry out of the trenches, prepare to shoot in formation!" Li Wei shouted.

Zhong Tian commanded his ninety-five riflemen to quickly form three horizontal columns, facing the flank of the enemy cavalry group in the high-speed charge, and quickly fired the first row of bullets, although the gunfire was dense, but only a few enemy cavalry were killed, and the two rows of guns that followed made more enemy cavalry fall off their horses, but the enemy brigade was unmoved, continued to maintain the established direction, and went straight to the three companies exposed on the flat ground.

Two Maxim machine guns spat out tongues of fire, but one of them jammed after firing only a few bullets, and the other machine gun and rifle formation caused the enemy cavalry to cry wolf, but this still failed to attract the attention of the enemy cavalry.

"It seems that they want to kill with the three-in-a-row, so that if we want to not kill our own people, we have to stop shooting, these bitches raised them!" Li Wei roared into the air.

Suddenly, several gray and yellow dust pillars suddenly rose in the enemy's cavalry formation, accompanied by a low explosion sound, and the screams of men and horses, similar scenes repeated repeatedly, in less than two minutes, about 300 enemy cavalry had fallen to the ground more than half, at this time, the third company also began to fire a volley of guns on the enemy under the organization of Jiang Zhi, the enemy seemed to see that something was not good, the brigade of men and horses scattered at once, divided into small groups and fled to the small hill opposite the railway. The Qing army's rifle machine guns and mortars pursued two or three of them and fired continuously, and the enemy soldiers and horses fell to the ground one after another, and in the end less than forty or fifty cavalrymen escaped the pursuit.

The short battle was so short that the 2nd Battalion, which had just landed before the battle, had not yet reached the 1st Battalion's position after the battle, so they had to clean up the battlefield for the 1st Battalion brethren.

"That's right, at least three hundred have been killed, and there have been no casualties on your side, amazing, I underestimated you before."

Liu Haiwen, the commander of the second battalion, climbed on Li Wei's shoulder, handed over the Genhard Gate cigarette, Li Wei took it, stuck it behind his ear, and responded with a smile: "The main thing is that those three mortars are useful, if it weren't for them, the third company would have been crushed long ago, and my life might not be known." ”

Liu Haiwen lit his own cigarette and said in the direction of the artillery position: "Then don't go to Xie Lu Xie Artillery Platoon Commander, but they were only incorporated into your unit a few days ago." ”

Li Wei said: "I still need you to be wordy, thank you a long time ago, I have to tell the regiment commander when I go back, these cannons cannot be temporarily incorporated in our battalion, they must be included in the formal formation, people and cannons must be fixed, and artillery shells must not be missing, this thing is really easy to use." ”

Liu Haiwen smiled and shook his head: "No way, there are only these three mortars in the whole regiment, they are said to be for experiments, and there is no batch equipment yet, the regiment commander is looking at your battalion to carry out the task of landing first on the shore, so he is merciful to let you take it, maybe when he comes up, he will immediately take back the direct command of the regiment headquarters." ”

Li Wei was unconvinced: "Impossible, isn't there a five-seven mountain cannon directly under the regiment headquarters?" There are no less of these three small cannons. ”

Liu Haiwen patted him on the head: "I said you kid, just now I said that this thing saved your life, but now I turn my face and say that people are small cannons or something, do you have a conscience." Besides, why do good things have to stay in your camp? Maybe the regimental commander is going to send our battalion on a special mission, and he will hand over the cannon to me? You can save it. ”

Li Wei turned his head: "Then you just wait and see, these three cannons, our battalion is fixed, unless our whole battalion is killed, no one will want to snatch them!" ”

"It's just a joke, why take it so seriously, by the way......" Liu Haiwen became serious, "This time the other party's attack is very strange, there is neither artillery fire, nor infantry support, just a cavalry attack, the risk of doing so is very large, I think, an officer of the regular army would never do such a thing." Also, I just looked at the corpses of the enemy, although most of them were wearing regular army uniforms, they were not equipped with regular equipment, and the weapons were mainly Japanese swords and spears, and there were only a dozen rifles and cavalry guns in total......"

Li Wei also thought of it: "Well, I also think it's strange, isn't the other party a regular army?" Didn't the intelligence say that the rebels were stationed in the Akaishi River area, and the 55th Wing was temporarily formed? I remembered......"

"What?"

"Just now, when the commander of the third company cleaned up the enemy's stronghold, he brought back a pile of trophies, among which there were old-fashioned arquebuses, crossbows, long knives and other weapons, I didn't notice it at first, but when you said this, the enemy must really be a militia organization, and the only organized militia in this vicinity is the kamikaze in Osaka......"

Liu Haiwen nodded: "I think so too, if it's really a militia group, it's best to slaughter them in the open field, once the other party retreats into the mountains that we are not familiar with, we have to let them wander and wait for the rebel army to come over and then solve it, but it is better to leave the credit for killing the enemy not long ago than to do it yourself, what do you say?" ”

Li Wei's eyes lit up: "What can you do?" Tell me, I'll do it with you! ”

Liu Haiwen glanced at the sail in the direction of the beach: "The two of us have no right to decide, the regiment commander is coming up, we have to discuss with him, and at the same time, we must immediately send people to the port and Beppu and Toba to reconnoiter and find out the real situation of the enemy army, if things are really as we think, the regiment commander has no reason not to listen to us." ”

"Okay, that's it!"

※※※

Lieutenant Colonel Shen Xingyi, commander of the Second Marine Regiment, graduated from the 91st class of the Army University, strictly speaking, he should be regarded as an army officer, but due to the special status of the Marine Corps and the relationship between the initial establishment of the unit, this kind of problem is not worth pursuing.

"Are you so sure that the other party is all a vigilante group?" Shen Xingyi looked at Li Wei and Liu Haiwen seriously and asked.

Liu Haiwen said resolutely: "My subordinates believe that their judgment is not wrong, in an emergency situation like the landing of our army near Akashigawa Port, the other party should immediately send the strongest force to drive our army into the sea in one fell swoop, but it is such a vulnerable militia organization that comes to attack, it can be proved that the enemy army does not have a strong regular army nearby, and our army can rest assured that it can advance boldly and boldly forward, and annihilate the enemy in front of it and occupy the port before the follow-up troops arrive." ”

Shen Xingyi hesitated: "However, the task given to our regiment by Commander Ding is only to occupy and consolidate the landing field, and the task of attacking the port should be completed by the follow-up First Praetorian Regiment and the Fourth Detachment of the Rebellion......"

"Regiment commander," Liu Haiwen became excited, "the fighter plane is fleeting, if you blindly wait for the follow-up troops and delay time, I am afraid that the situation will change, and our army will miss a good opportunity, and we will regret it in the future." And the ancients, the generals will be outside, the king's order is not subject to it, Commander Ding did not see the change of the situation in advance, naturally he can't set a complete strategy, as long as the regiment commander gives an order, my whole regiment of 1,600 brothers will die with the regiment commander to make great achievements! ”

Li Wei thought to himself that this Liu Haiwen was worthy of being a showman, and he still had a little taste when he spoke, and he also echoed: "Leader! Give the order, and we'll follow you! ”

Yu Dalong, the commander of the third battalion, also came over to make up: "Regiment commander, I also think what Battalion Commander Liu said is reasonable, so you can consider it." ”

Shen Xingyi didn't express his position immediately, but asked the staff officer to bring the map, put the map on the beach, squatted down to check it carefully, and everyone knew that the head of the Dao needed time to think, so they also squatted down to look at the map together.

A few minutes later, Shen Xingyi slowly got up, everyone quickly stood up, and heard the regiment commander order: "The first battalion is stationed at the beachhead, equipped with a mortar platoon and a platoon of mountain artillery companies, to cover the landing of the first regiment; The second battalion and the third battalion marched towards the port with the direct team, the second battalion was in the south, the third battalion was in the north, the first target was the city hall, the second target was the railway station, and the third target was the port. ”

"Yes!" The three battalion commanders shouted in unison, each returned to the unit, and soon the second and third battalions were moving.

About an hour later, Shen Xingyi led his more than 1,000 officers and soldiers to easily seize the city hall, and almost no losses were suffered on the way, Shen Xingyi was not complacent, but worried: "Is there really such a good thing in the world? The fact that such an important port was not fortified would have been a trap if the enemy commander had not been stupid. ”

At this time, Liu Haiwen, the commander of the second battalion, ran over: "Regiment commander, the vicinity of the city hall has been cleared, and you can move on." ”

"Wait a ......minute," Shen Xing jumped off the horse, climbed up to the top floor of the city hall in one breath, and looked out of a lace-trimmed Western window, only to see that the nearby was crowded with wooden buildings with yards, and in the distance, the outlines of factory buildings and chimneys were alternately displayed, the criss-crossing streets were narrow but clean, and a slightly wider road and the railway that bypassed the north side of the city formed the backbone of urban traffic.

"Commander, what's wrong?" Liu Haiwen ran up and exhaled white water vapor for a while.

"I was thinking that if the enemy lies in ambush in this street, waits for our troops to penetrate deeply, and suddenly kills and fights with our troops in close quarters, in such a narrow place, our firepower superiority will not be able to be brought into play, and our troops will be in danger......"

Liu Haiwen said disdainfully: "Those rabble, even if we really fight hand-to-hand, we will never suffer a loss, regiment commander, let's go, the third battalion has already marched towards the railway station according to the plan." ”

"Calling people to call back the third battalion and at the same time sending people to contact the beachhead, I suspect this is a well-planned trap."

"No......" Liu Haiwen didn't finish speaking, he heard a noise mixed with gunshots, killing sounds and screams, he hurriedly approached the window, only to see countless soldiers or militiamen with firearms and blades magically appearing on the street, rushing towards his location.

"We've been tricked!" Liu Haiwen exclaimed.

"Zhilu said," Shen Xingyi pulled out the revolver he was carrying, "Go and gather your troops, tell them, don't mess around, all withdraw to the city hall, there are cannons here to support them!" ”

"Yes!" Liu Haiwen pulled out his gun and ran downstairs, almost colliding with the commander of the guard company who was running up.

"Captain! There are enemies everywhere, we are surrounded! Lieutenant Lin Taiping, the commander of the guard company, shouted in a panic.

"Zhilu said," Shen Xingyi said coldly, "You go down with me." ”

"However, this is too dangerous, the enemy's snipers will ......" As the commander of the guard company, Lin Taiping was first concerned about the safety of the regiment commander.

Shen Xing said as he walked: "So I want you to come with me, if anything happens, someone will collect the body." ”

"Commander......" Lin Taiping didn't know what to say, so he had to obediently follow Shen Xing downstairs.

On the square in front of the town hall, the artillery company has already set up its artillery, and five Wuqi mountain guns are facing the five street corners, and one is placed at the gate of the town hall for mobile use. Three Maxim machine guns from the machine gun platoon were carried into the town hall building and placed on the windows and balconies on the second floor, and the shooters piled up all sorts of furniture and decorations next to the machine guns as cover. The soldiers of the guard company smashed all the window panes above and below the town hall building, and the 7.92 mm barrels of Mauser or Manlisa rifles protruded outward, which were large and wide, and even floor-mounted, and there was nothing to cover the shooter's body, and the furniture was robbed by the machine gun platoon, so in fact those riflemen were "naked and shooting at the enemy" (Lin Taiping later recalled). The men of the 2nd Battalion gradually retreated from the sea to the town hall, and soon gathered around the town hall, arranged in a three-layer array of guns, and temporarily repelled the enemy's frantic onslaught with the support of machine guns and artillery. The 3rd Battalion fell into a bitter battle in the streets near the railway station, and the commander of the 3rd Battalion, Yu Dalong, led his troops to the south to desperately break through, and finally rushed to the area of the city hall, but the troops had lost more than half.

The chaos lasted less than half an hour, and the streets of Akaishigawa were quiet again, with both sides licking their wounds, gathering their spirits and preparing for another battle.

"The 2nd Battalion lost 18 killed, 11 seriously wounded, 13 missing, a total of 42 casualties, and in addition, the connection with the beachhead was also cut off." Liu Haiwen, commander of the second battalion, reported to the regiment commander.

"Zhilu Dao," Shen Xingyi turned to Yu Dalong, the commander of the third battalion: "Battalion Commander Yu, you have nothing to do, listen to your guard platoon commander, the enemy actually rushed to your side less than two steps." ”

Yu Dalong knocked his feet and straightened his chest: "Commander Xie Xie is concerned, his subordinates know that the battle is not effective, resulting in as many as 221 missing in the third battalion within half an hour, the crime may be unforgivable, I am willing to listen to the regiment commander's disposal!" ”

"Don't talk nonsense, I will deal with you, who will deal with me? I brought you here, and only I am qualified to be responsible for you. Shen Xingyi said and touched the pocket of the school officer's uniform with the tweed material, and found that he had forgotten something, so he went to the pocket of Liu Haiwen's yellow military coat, took out a pack of Hademen cigarettes, put one in his mouth first, and then handed Yu Dalong two, and then threw the remaining half of the pack of cigarettes back to Liu Haiwen.

Liu Haiwen took the half pack of cigarettes, his heart was uneasy, and his face was ashamed: "Regiment commander, this is all my fault, it was my misjudgment that killed the three armies." ”

Shen Xingyi lit a cigarette for himself, threw the matchbox to Yu Dalong, and said to Liu Haiwen: "Don't lift yourself up so high, before I'm finished, it won't be your turn to decide everyone's life and death." There was a large group of mad dogs outside, preparing to tear us to pieces, and if you didn't want to die, go to your own camp and command the battle. ”

"Yes! Head! Yu Dalong and Liu Haiwen saluted, and each returned to his combat post with different feelings.

Soon, countless mad dogs began to howl, followed by a dense burst of gunfire and terrible screams, and the entire city of Akashikawa was surrounded by madness, bloodshed, burning, and destruction.

There are many buildings around the city hall, and several of them are independent buildings that have long been occupied by Liu Haiwen's second battalion as a barrier to the city hall building, and these buildings have naturally become the focus of enemy attacks.

Liu Haiwen was in a small European-style three-story building, and sixty soldiers from the fourth company and one platoon of guards gathered around him, above his head and under his feet, scrambling to shoot at the swarming crowd.

"Don't panic! Don't mess around! We are supported by machine guns and artillery, and the enemy can't get close! Liu Haiwen went upstairs to downstairs, and from the first floor to the third floor, cheering up the soldiers.

The enemy fell in a batch, and a crowd poured in. Someone stopped to shoot, someone stopped to sleep, someone charged forward, someone died forward, someone pushed a cannon ready to fire, someone was hit by shrapnel and the brain burst out. The streets are not wide, they are full of dead and alive, the living are going to die, and the dead are not coming back to life.

A small group of rebels occupied a tavern opposite the European-style building, and shot at Liu Haiwen and others from the window on the second floor and the tiled roof, the bullet hit the window frame and the body, splashing two completely different substances, Liu Haiwen was shot in the chest and fell on the waxed pine floor.

"Battalion commander! The battalion commander was shot! A fighter was yelling.

"Medic! Go call the medical officer! The guard platoon commander was shouting.

"Brethren! The battalion commander hit those bunnies! Let's fight with Dogday! The platoon commander of the fourth company was roaring.

"Fight!" Forty or fifty soldiers quickly loaded their bayonets and followed the platoon commander to rush out of the city, but they were soon drowned in the surging crowd.

The platoon commander of the guard platoon, together with several soldiers, carried Liu Wenhai and three other fallen brothers back to the city hall, and soon the small building fell into the hands of the enemy, and then the artillery company concentrated three Wuqi mountain guns and bombed the small building into a pile of burning garbage.

In the city hall, the roar of Maxim machine guns and Wuqi mountain guns echoed incessantly, the hall on the first floor lay strewn with snatched corpses, and the basement was crowded with the wounded who were groaning or screaming, the red of blood, the white of bandages and the black of military uniforms were mixed together, and the pungent smell of blood mixed with the smell of alcohol permeated everywhere.

"How is Camp Commander Liu!" Shen Xingyi grabbed the shoulders of a medical officer and shook and shouted.

The medical officer shook his head with the machete used for amputation: "You can carry it to the hall." ”

Shen Xingyi didn't say anything more.

※※※

While the city of Akashigawa became a place where dead bodies piled up, more living people were scrambling to flee from the world in front of the Qing army's beachhead on the Osui coast.