Chapter 138 Steel Torrent

The Meiji Emperor's voice was not high, but he sent a clear signal.

Taiwan is no longer an isolated Taiwan. Taiwan is involved in Japanese domestic politics and Japan's international environment.

The followers of the former "Emperor Tobu" are ready to move, and the French covet Taiwan. Zhang Jun existed for a day in Tainan, which is a bomb that may explode at any time!

The battle ahead must meet the political demands of the rear.

Hirofumi Ito understood the emperor's meaning and bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty is wise. The Taiwan issue must be solved quickly!" Hirofumi Ito does not agree with Norima. He even looks down on Norima, such reckless men who can only dance with knives and guns. In his opinion, Yuheng Ito's strategy is undoubtedly wise, but until now, Japan has no choice but to continue to fight.

Zhou Charter forced Japan to the edge of the cliff!

Emperor Meiji said slowly: "While solving it by force, we can't forget the political means!" Most of the time, politics is more effective than force.

Everyone looked at Emperor Meiji puzzledly. Does the Empire of Japan really want to negotiate with Zhou Charter?

"We will dismiss all positions of Lin Dong in order to make a friendly gesture to the imperial court of the Qing Dynasty." Emperor Meiji said, "Well, please talk to the court of the Qing Dynasty about the rest!"

"Yes!" Lu Azongguang bowed and said.

This is when everyone is suddenly enlightened. Most of the time, the court of the Qing Dynasty is the best ally of the Japanese government! This was repeatedly confirmed in the First Sino-Japanese War, and the Zhang army, which gave the Japanese a headache, finally got rid of their empress dowager Buddha!

The emperor stood up, walked away, walked to the door, and stopped again: "My dear friends, what do you think of Zhou Charter?"

In the conference room, there was a dead silence.

Emperor Meiji glanced at the crowd, and he actually saw a layer of sweat on the forehead of General Qichuan Palace.

The name Zhou Charter is enough to make people sweat! Hirofumi Ito lamented in his heart that he knew that the quick battle was beneficial to the enemy, but he had to go to the rhythm of Zhou Charter. The whole Japan seemed to have been kidnapped by Zhou Charter!

The Emperor Meiji's heart is sad!

......

Yi Dong Youheng was dismissed as the governor of Taiwan, transferred back to China, and was ordered to retire! From then on, he withdrew from the Japanese political stage and became another victim of the war.

Yidong Youheng's failure has long been doomed. Huashan Ziji, the naval commander, was killed in the Changshan waterway, and the joint fleet was severely damaged in the waters of Temple Island. As the commander of the joint fleet, Ito Yuheng should have taken responsibility for this. Emperor Meiji gave him a chance to go to Taiwan to make some achievements. However, the death of Prince Kita-Shirakawa Palace made him lose his chance forever!

He paid the price for his failure!

Since the beginning of the war between the Qing Dynasty and Japan, not only have the Japanese people been dragged into the quagmire of the war, but also many meritorious officials of the Meiji Restoration have been trapped in it! Some have ruined their future, and some have lost their lives for this. Yidong Youheng is neither the first nor the last!

Of course, some people take the opportunity to fly!

Nogi was promoted to general, commander of the Southern Army, and governor of Taiwan! Take charge of Taiwan's military and civil rights and become the de facto dictator of Taiwan! This is an appointment that Japan has never made since the Wuchen War. Since the Meiji Restoration, in order to avoid the consequences of shogunate politics, the Japanese government has strictly placed the army under the control of the state in accordance with the principles of Western-style literati politics. The cabinet is responsible for the emperor, and the military department is responsible to the cabinet, thus ensuring the government's absolute control over the army. However, in 1895, a military governor who took over military and political power appeared in Taiwan, which was a setback of Japan's Meiji Restoration and a victory for the Japanese military ministry! This victory is only partial, but it is that in the future, the Japanese military will gradually control the cabinet and open the way for Japan to militarism.

Noki took over the power and began to implement his ambitious plan to suppress it.

On September 30, the Japanese army, which had been dormant for half a month, launched a mountain-down attack on Chiayi!

Prince Fushimi Palace, the younger brother of Kita-Shirakawa Palace, succeeded as the head of the Guards Division and led the Guards Division to attack Jiayi.

At 6 a.m., the Japanese army began to shell more than 100 cannons gathered on the north bank of Puzixi.

This is the largest shelling that the Japanese army has gathered since the First Sino-Japanese War. In previous battles, the Japanese army generally used ten cannons as a combat unit, which was enough to shake the position of the Qing army.

And this time, in the face of the Zhang army in Chiayi City, the Japanese army almost used all the artillery of the Guards Division to launch a fierce bombardment at one point.

This is not only an attack, but also a deterrent!

The Japanese army believes that such a powerful artillery fire can not only quickly defeat the enemy troops stationed in Chiayi, but also shake the morale of the entire Tainan region! They will be scared by the magma-like torrent of steel of the Japanese army!

The rain-like shells almost ploughed the land on the south bank of Puzixi, and all the fortifications laid by Zhang Jun on the south bank were blown into scorched earth.

Zhang's artillery on the walls of Zhuluo Mountain and Chiayi carried out counterattack. The total number of cannons of Zhang's independent brigade was only 20, which was soon suppressed by the superior artillery fire of the Japanese army and was difficult to play. Under the threat of Japanese artillery fire, the wild artillery positions on Zhuluo Mountain were severely damaged. Two of the five wild guns were destroyed by enemy artillery fire, and the remaining three had to shift their positions to avoid Japanese artillery attacks. At the same time, the mountain cannons on the wall of Chiayi also had to shift their positions.

After an hour of artillery preparation, the Japanese army gathered more than 3,000 people in a reinforced squad and began to forcibly cross Park Zixi.

The independent brigade on the south bank of Pu Zixi quickly entered the first-line position that had been blown up from the second-line position and scattered on the soft beach bombed by shells to prevent the Japanese attack. At the same time, the cannons hidden in Zhuluo Mountain and Jiayi City launched a shell attack on Pu Zixi to respond to the Pu Zixi defense line.

Park Zixi's battle was extremely fierce. From 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Zhang's independent brigade deployed in Puzixi was a reinforced battalion of more than 1,000 people and withstood six attacks of 3,000 Japanese troops. The beachhead position has already been blown into ruins.

When the Japanese launched the shelling, the officers and soldiers retreated to the second-line position, leaving only a few observation posts on the front-line position. When the Japanese infantry crossed the river, the officers and soldiers rushed to the front-line position and lay in the soft soil, relying on the craters left by the Japanese shelling as shelter to resist desperately.

The bodies of the Japanese army are floating in the water of the Puzixi River, while the bodies of the soldiers of the Zhang army are scattered on the beach.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, Zhang officers and soldiers of a company stationed at the head of the beach were injured. The company commander tied his grenades and died together with the Japanese army rushing up. One hundred Japanese troops boarded the beach head. However, the defenders immediately mobilized their reserves and launched a counterattack, destroying all the 100 Japanese troops on the beach. Subsequently, the enemy and us repeatedly competed for the beach head, and their positions changed hands several times. In the end, the Japanese occupied the beach at 5 p.m. after paying the cost of more than 800 casualties.

After 2,000 troops of a Japanese army consolidated the bridgehead, they detoured to both sides and gradually opened a huge gap of one kilometer wide on the front line of Puzixi and gained a firm foothold on the south bank of Puzixi.

Yan Qionglin, the acting brigade commander of the independent brigade, ordered Park Zixi's garrison to retreat, rely on Chiayi City, and rely on Zhuluo Mountain to launch defense.

At night, the Japanese army, which had been attacking for a day, was exhausted and temporarily stopped the attack and tried to consolidate the beach. The follow-up troops took advantage of the night and continuously crossed Pu Zixi.

In the moonlight, Major General Shenwei Guangchen, the chief of staff of the Southern Army, jumped out of the boat and almost fell under his feet. He looked down and saw that a war horse that had been blown open and broke his stomach was mixed at his feet.

During the daytime battle, the cavalry troops on the charge mission were severely damaged on the beach. They met the cavalry's nemesis - Maxim's heavy machine gun, a weapon that can fire 2,000 bullets per minute, spit out a fire tongue, forming a huge blocking fan. The cavalry who rushed into the fan, like straw, was cut down by a sickle. A complete cavalry squadron, with horses, was almost completely reimbursed on the beach.

The Japanese army, which suffered a great loss, changed its strategy and launched a charge with the infantry line, which offset the firepower of Maxim's heavy machine gun.

Shenwei Guangchen really doesn't understand that the Maxim heavy machine gun represents the highest level of weapon development in the world. However, Westerners invented this weapon but did not apply it to actual combat. It turned out to be the most backward and unmotivated Chinese in the eyes of Westerners, giving full play to the advantages of Mark Qin heavy machine gun. To the full.

After the Meiji Restoration, Japan also respected Western science and technology, but after learning, it actually missed the Maxim heavy machine gun!

Fortunately, the Japanese military learned a lesson in time. After summarizing and analyzing the Battle of Lushun, the military department decided to immediately introduce Maxim heavy machine guns, purchased the first batch of 100 heavy machine guns, and carried out research and development at the Osaka Arsenal in an effort to build the Japanese's own heavy machine guns. However, the process of localization of heavy machine guns is still very far away.

The well-equipped Southern Army was not equipped with heavy machine guns, and the officers and soldiers of the arrogant Guards Division refused to use this wasted ammunition weapon, while the second division then transferred to Taiwan was not the main division and was not equipped with heavy machine guns. It was not until Naoki decided to launch the Battle of Tainan that he hurriedly requested that domestic heavy machine guns be transported to Taiwan. 50 heavy machine guns had been boarded and had not yet arrived in Taiwan.

The Japanese heavy machine guns are still sailing slowly on the sea, and Zhang Jun's heavy machine guns have made the Guards division suffer.

Tactics and technology are the keys to the success or failure of the battlefield. The Japanese army does not pay attention to heavy machine guns. The fundamental reason is that they do not understand the tactics of heavy machine guns. No wonder, even the Westerners, the inventors of heavy machine guns, do not understand how to use heavy machine guns!