I formed the strongest swordsman group

Under the high pressure of Tokugawa Iemochi, even if they were unwilling, they could only bite the bullet and lead their troops to join the war.

Being forced to fight a war they didn't want to fight at all, it was impossible to expect them to have a good face.

Of course, Qing Deng would not have too high expectations for the combat power and enthusiasm of these guys.

Qing Deng only had one requirement for them: don't drag their feet.

As long as they don't drag their feet, whether they want to be an atmosphere group or a pure little transparent, Qing Deng was too lazy to care.

After making a brief opening speech, Qing Deng squinted his eyes and glanced at Yamanami Keisuke beside him.

The other party nodded slightly in understanding, and then stood up.

"I am Yamanami Keisuke, the elder of the Qinjin clan and the general director of the Shinsengumi."

"Next, please allow me to preside over this meeting."

"Everyone, please look."

He said, pointing to the long table in front of everyone.

There was a three-dimensional map made of clay on the table.

Long ago, Qing Deng mobilized a large number of elite ninjas headed by Yamazaki Zheng and ordered them to sneak into Choshu to spy on important information such as terrain, material supply, military deployment, and personnel flow.

Although Choshu tried its best to prevent the infiltration of ninjas and spies, and set up outposts at various passes to strictly check every incoming person, in this backward era without advanced technologies such as satellites and surveillance, it is not easy to completely block a feudal state?

Despite the hardships and dangers, Yamazaki Zheng and others are not vegetarians.

Through various means such as false identities, mixing into caravans, and crossing mountains, many of them successfully sneaked into Choshu and carried out a carpet-style exploration of the entire Choshu.

The "staff group" headed by Hijikata Toshizo and Yamanami Keisuke finally successfully made this detailed three-dimensional map based on the various intelligence they passed back.

The level of detail of this map is amazing.

The direction of the river, the specific location of the city...all the key locations are clearly marked.

Under the guidance of Yamanami Keisuke, everyone at the scene turned their eyes and looked at the three-dimensional map in front of them, which was the result of countless people's efforts.

Then, many people frowned slightly and looked embarrassed.

The reason was simple - the terrain of Choshu was too steep!

Nearly 80% of Japan's land is mountainous and hilly.

The only three large plains - Osaka Plain, Nobi Plain, and Kanto Plain - are all distributed in Gyeonggi and Kanto.

In contrast, it is not an exaggeration to describe the West as "no three feet of flat land". There is almost no plain with a slightly larger area.

From Gyeonggi to the Shimonoseki Strait, there is a huge mountain range called the "Chugaku Mountains", and only the narrow strip of land near the sea is slightly flat.

Choshu Domain is located at the westernmost end of the Chugoku Mountains.

The Chugoku Mountains with its mountains and peaks are a natural fortress.

Choshu, located in it, is undoubtedly a "mountain country" that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

For this reason, Choshu's land transportation is quite closed, and there are only a few roads connected to the outside world that can be used by people and horses.

This certainly affects commercial exchanges and economic development, but if you think about it from another perspective, it is a great benefit to the military!

Only a small number of troops need to be deployed and the most important places can be defended to save the entire feudal state.

Therefore, Choshu took advantage of the geographical advantage and established five passes collectively known as the "Five Borders" at the five most critical transportation routes on the border: Geishukou, Ishishukou, Oshimaguchi, Koguraguchi, and Hagiguchi.

Among them, Geishukou is the pass adjacent to Aki, which is the battlefield where Qing Deng and others are currently located!

The battle plan of "dividing troops into three routes and attacking Choshu from both sides" formulated by Qing Deng is to let the three armies advance from Geishukou, Ishishukou, and Koguraguchi respectively.

"As you can see, Choshu is full of mountains, which is a strategically located place."

"Although our army has an overwhelming advantage in military strength, it is not easy to capture Choshu."

"Don't be careless."

Yamanan Keisuke slowly picked up the thin stick at hand and pointed to the "five realms" marked on the map one by one.

"According to the currently known intelligence, Choshu has deployed a certain number of troops in the 'five realms'."

"They seem to have anticipated that Akiguchi will be the main battlefield, so they deployed the most troops here."

"In recent days, we have sent a large number of scouts to explore the details of the opposite position."

"Unfortunately, until today, we have not yet grasped their specific military strength and the identity of their commanders."

"The only certain thing at present is that the total number of troops on the opposite side is no less than 2,000."

Speaking of this, Yamanan Keisuke paused for a moment, and then changed to a solemn tone.

"It's strange... the number of torches on the opposite side is far less than we expected."

"Whether Akiguchi falls or not largely determines the survival of Choshu."

"It's clearly a place of life and death, but the troops are so few... It's really puzzling."

As soon as Yamanami Keisuke finished speaking, Nagakura Shinpachi on the side asked tentatively:

"Could this be Choshu's strategy of confusing the enemy?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he received a rebuttal from Hijikata Toshizo:

"'Confusing the enemy'? Why does Choshu need to adopt this strategy?"

"Throughout the ages, there are only two situations in which armies have adopted the strategy of confusing the enemy."

"One is to pretend that there are a lot of troops to play a bluff."

"The other is to pretend that there are few troops to lure the enemy into pursuing."

"From the current situation, Choshu does not meet any of the above points."

Fudo Heisuke took over the conversation:

"Then...will they withdraw their main forces into the hinterland and plan to fight a decisive battle with us in the hinterland?"

Hijikata Toshizo's bland voice started again:

"If so, then the commanders of the Choshu Army are too stupid, aren't they?"

"The geographical advantage is the only advantage they have."

"Abandoning the great geographical advantage and fighting a decisive battle with us in the vast hinterland with slightly flat terrain? The commanders of the Choshu Army are not stupid enough to be that stupid, right?"

Hijikata Toshizo's words made the scene fall into silence.

Indeed. What Hijikata Toshizo just said was true.

No matter from which angle you look at it, Choshu's current move is really confusing.

No matter how incompetent or ignorant of military affairs you are, you should know the principle of "using geographical advantages to offset the difference in military strength", right?

Why not deploy the main forces at the border passes to keep the enemy out of the country?

In this way, although victory cannot be guaranteed, it will definitely delay the shogunate army and bring great trouble to the shogunate army.

Regarding how Choshu won this battle, Qing Deng, together with Hijikata Toshizo, Yamanami Keisuke and others, had a very thorough and detailed discussion.

After discussion, they all agreed that although the shogunate army had an absolute advantage, Choshu could turn the tables.

The way is to drag it out!

Try to drag it out, try to survive, and then actively contact the Western powers to let them intervene and mediate.

In the past, due to the shogunate's implementation of the "isolation order", the Western powers knew very little about this Far Eastern island country.

For this reason, there was once a diplomatic incident of "mistaking the Shogun for the head of state". This incident once made the court extremely indignant.

Today, the "Black Ship Incident" happened 11 years ago.

For this Far Eastern island country, the Western powers are no longer ignorant.

They knew that the island nation was in a state of division, with a nominal emperor, a shaky central government, and more than 300 princes.

Compared with an integrated country and nation, a fragmented country and nation is definitely easier to control.

In other words, it is in the interests of Western powers to keep Japan in a state of division and unable to form a joint force.

Especially the "super troublemaker" England in Europe.

In recent years, the shogunate has been very close to France, not only buying French equipment, but also inviting French instructors, which makes Britain very dissatisfied.

Therefore, Britain is very interested in finding trouble with the shogunate and causing trouble for it.

In terms of how to mess up a country and how to torture a nation, the British are second, who dares to claim to be first?

If you step on a stone on the road, you can completely suspect that the stone was placed by the British - so goes the Arabic proverb.

As long as they can hold back the shogunate army and hold on until the Western powers intervene and put pressure on them, then this dead chess game may really be revived by them.

Even if we take a step back, if Choshu really intends to fight a decisive battle with the shogunate army in the hinterland, they should also take two steps.

The first step is to launch a thorough "scorched earth war" to increase the difficulty of supplying the shogunate army.

The second step is to mobilize the entire domain, abandon all the passes and unimportant cities, gather all the troops in the hinterland, and achieve success in one battle.

The current Choshu seems to have chosen "or" in "1 or 2".

They have not deployed heavy troops on the border, nor do they seem to be deliberately showing weakness or gathering troops in the hinterland... I don't understand what they want to do.

After about 5 seconds of silence at the scene, Matsudaira Yoshiyasu made a guess:

"Then... could it be because Choshu's military strength is already extremely weak?"

"The troops we have seen so far are already their full combat power?"

"Even if they want to send more troops to the border, they are powerless."

As soon as this was said, many people in the tent nodded in agreement.

This reason is very tenable and convincing.

The whole country came to attack, but was defeated and lost its armor and weapons, with heavy casualties and the foundation of the country shaken - the Kyoto Summer Campaign, this battle that brought great humiliation to Choshu, was just over two months ago.

No matter how capable Choshu is, it is impossible to recover in such a short time.

In this way, it is not impossible that Choshu, which sent all the troops clean outside Kyoto, was so weak that it was difficult to defend the border.

At this time, Saito Ichi, who usually spoke little but always grasped the key points and got to the core of the problem when he spoke, suddenly whispered:

"...Where is the Qibingtai? Is the Qibingtai here?"

His words immediately reminded everyone - yes, where is the Qibingtai?

At this point, everyone knows that the Qibingtai is the last elite force left in Choshu that can fight hard battles.

The Shinsengumi has always regarded this armed force, which is famous for its "full westernization" and "not asking about background", as a strong enemy and a key focus.

Once the Kiheitai is destroyed, Choshu's last mobile force will be completely wiped out.

By then, Choshu will be destroyed without any soldiers available, it is just a matter of time.

In other words, the day when the Kiheitai is encountered is the day of the decisive battle of this expedition!

Hijikata Toshizo turned his head and looked at Yamanami Keisuke.

"Yannan, is there any news about the Kiheitai?"

Yamanami Keisuke shook his head gently:

"Unfortunately, no. The soldiers of the 9th Division have tried their best, but..."

At this point, Yamanami Keisuke closed his mouth in time and stopped talking.

As he said, the members of Division 9 currently lurking throughout Changshu have indeed tried their best.

However... As of today, they still haven't found out the specific movements of the team.

Not to mention the Qi Corps, they did not know the detailed actions of other troops in Changzhou, such as the various "rebel armies" formed voluntarily by civilians.

Can't blame them.

With very few clues, searching for the traces of the army in the vast mountains covered with jungle... To put it harshly, this is really a difficult task. Whether you can gain anything depends entirely on luck.

Suddenly, Qingdeng, who had been silent since the meeting began, finally spoke:

"...Since we don't know where the surprise team is going, let's just break into the opposite position and take a look."

"If we encounter strong resistance, the team of surprise troops will be on the opposite side of us."

"If it comes and goes naturally, then the Rangers are somewhere else."

After saying that, he held onto the Bizen Nagafune around his waist and stood up slowly.

"Sanosuke, summon the cavalry!"

…

…

It's that day, late at night——

The thick clouds in the sky have not become thinner with the passage of time.

The cold wind howled, making people tuck their clothes tightly and shiver.

The dark clouds and the oppressive cold made it seem like it would snow at any time.

"Moo...moo...moo..."

The radish was lying low while idly digging the soil with its hooves.

Not far away, Qingdeng put his hands into his sleeves and used his own body temperature to warm his hands to prevent his palms from freezing and ensure that he could enter combat status at any time.

Suddenly, Harada Sanosuke walked out of the diagonal thorn, took two steps, and came to Qingto's side.

"Mr. Tachibana, all team members are ready and ready to go at any time."

Behind Qingdeng, I saw a full 80 cavalrymen holding their horses, holding their swords, and getting ready to go.

No matter whether they were humans or horses, they all closed their mouths tightly, spraying translucent mist from their mouths and noses, and exuding a daunting and chilling aura.

These 80 cavalrymen are all brave men carefully selected by Harada Sanosuke from the 10th Division.

Not only are they extremely skilled and proficient in equestrian skills, but they all have no night blindness.

In the feudal era, it was very common to suffer from night blindness due to lack of nutrition.

"Mr. Tachibana, are you...really planning to attack the enemy camp at night?"

Harada Sanosuke asked tentatively.

Qingden smiled and asked half-jokingly:

"What? Are you scared?"

Before he finished speaking, Harada Sanosuke refuted impatiently:

"I'm not afraid!"

"who I am?"

"I am the 'Immortal Harada'! A man who cannot die even if his belly is cut open!"

"I was just too excited, so I just wanted to confirm something with you!"

Harada Sanosuke's tone was full of strong confidence - judging from his demeanor, he was not bragging.

He was really eager to try this upcoming night attack without any fear.

After Qingdeng chuckled a few times, he slowly said:

"I've even assembled my troops, how could I be lying?"

At this point, he changed into a serious tone.

"If you want to find out the enemy's strength, there is no more direct and accurate method than going to the enemy camp yourself."

At this time, Qingden suddenly felt that his vision was dim - something was blocking the corner of his right eye.

He raised his hand and looked again - it turned out to be a small snowflake.

"It's snowing..."

He looked up at the night sky, and saw countless snowflakes falling down like thousands of salt grains.

Harada Sanosuke shrank his neck and said:

"No wonder it's so cold tonight... Mr. Tachibana, the weather has changed, do you want to abort the plan? According to my personal experience, the snow won't stop for a while, and it will get heavier and heavier."

Qingdeng grinned and replied without thinking:

"Abort? Why abort?"

"This snow comes at just the right time! God help me!"

"The thick snow can cover up our footsteps, so it's a good time to launch a night attack."

"Besides, the enemy probably never thought that we could brave the severe wind and snow to launch an offensive!"

"In ancient times, there was a 'snowy night attack on Caizhou', and today there is a 'snowy night attack on Ankou'! Follow me to create new history!"

After that, he turned over on the cow with his vigorous movements and tapped the cow's belly with his heel.

"Let's go!"

"Moo!"

One person and one ox headed forward in the wind and snow, heading straight towards the enemy camp covered with torches.

Harada Sanosuke and the other cavalrymen followed closely behind, raising their whips and leaping horses.

In just a moment, they merged with the night...

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Today I have a lot of personal matters and I am so busy that I am dizzy, so the word count is a little shorter. I will try to become a Six Thousand Leopard tomorrow! (Leopard Hi.jpg)