Chapter 91: Landing in Kamakura, The Rise of the Two Peddlers, Tenka Books

  The mighty fleet of the Eight-Nation Alliance sailed across the sea, while a British cruiser was quietly watching from afar. It quickly sent news of the fleet's movements to the British Embassy in Tokyo via wireless telegraph. The embassy then secretly informed Japan. If it were Yang Feng himself, the British would not have gone to such great lengths to help Japan, after all, he wasn't worth offending so much. But with Germany and Russia added to the mix, they were more than happy to watch a good show. Let the Japanese give those guys a hard time first, then the British government could intervene and mediate, stopping the ambitions of Germany and Russia while gaining some benefits from Japan at the same time.

  Of course Yang Feng and the Germans are also very clear about this point.

  "Why do our British friends like Japan so much? I remember when I went there myself, they didn't seem to be as excessive as they are today?" Yang Feng sat on the deck of the Nautilus, looking at the distant British warship following them, and asked Waldes innocently.

  The Allied Command was set up on this ship, and even the King of Ryukyu himself, who had come to personally command the expedition, was on board. The Ming Pao newspaper made a big fuss about this in Europe, saying that Shang Yin Wang led his great army north to rescue his father and brother from Japanese captivity, and then, like a true gentleman, handed over the throne to Shang Tai Wang. Shang Tai Wang, full of kindness, cited his advanced age as a reason to pass the throne to Crown Prince, who thought his younger brother was more suitable to lead the people, so he passed the throne back to Shang Yin Wang. This play, full of filial piety, had already been written, even though Shang Yin Wang's army only had twenty people.

  Waldsee naturally understood that Yang Feng was sowing discord, but after all, the British had indeed gone a bit too far this time. The whole world had been snatched away by you, and now we just stretched out our hands slightly, and you interfered from the middle. This habit of always eating alone is really infuriating.

  "When we take Tokyo, they will regret it." Waldsee handed over the coffee poured by Min Yong-jun and said while savoring it. Mr. Min was very aware of his identity and had been humble since he boarded this noble black ship, which won the consistent favor of the Allied Command, including Waldsee, and praised Mr. Min as a learned scholar, loyal and virtuous Korean, and many other respectful evaluations.

  "Yang, what do you want in this war?" Waldsee asked Yang Feng curiously as he gazed at the distant Kudaka Island. Now that they could no longer hide their tracks, the fleet sailed directly towards the Kyushu coast, letting the Japanese take a good look at the powerful enemy they would face: over thirty warships and more than ten transport ships formed a majestic fleet, sailing proudly past Yakushima Island, close enough to see with binoculars the tense Japanese soldiers on the coastal artillery emplacements.

  Yang Feng pointed to the island of Zhongzi in the south.

  "From there on south I'll take it." The goods said with a sly smile.

  Waldze shrugged indifferently, it was just a string of small islands after all.

  When the news that the Eight-Nation Alliance had crossed the Jiuzhou Island arrived, Ito Hirobumi gritted his teeth and ordered to seal off this terrible news. Tokyo has already begun to appear fleeing people. If they knew of this disaster, it's likely that even without the enemy attacking, they would have been in chaos on their own.

  The Japanese in Tokyo have all transformed into moles, with hundreds of thousands of workers gathered in the east and west directions, digging trenches day and night. The entire city of Tokyo has become a mole hole. These trenches are not too deep, basically around 1.2 meters, which is also unavoidable. After all, they have to take care of their own soldiers' height factor, but things like anti-artillery caves are beyond their understanding. The Japanese have only seen the pirated versions of Ikuta's mountain fortifications and have never seen the authentic trench system of Yashan. In addition, although there is barbed wire, the quantity is not many, this thing is extremely scarce in Japan, even if all the available resources are mobilized, it would not be enough to protect a single trench.

  However, this did not deter the wise Japanese people. There were no barbed wires, but ordinary iron wires were available in some areas. Various types of wire from all over the country were transported to Tokyo and set up with wooden stakes in front of the trenches to form obstacles. Moreover, they even invented a creative way to add landmines, a powerful killer.

  However, the Japanese and Ikuta were unaware of digging their trenches in a zigzag shape, but instead dug them in a straight line. This would later prove to be a great disadvantage for them, as they had no machine guns, so there was no question of building a machine gun fortress. Instead, old-fashioned muzzle-loading cannons were set up on the trenches, along with equally ancient bird guns, making Yang Feng feel as though he saw the great Boxer warriors when he received intelligence reports from within the city.

  "Yang, from this intelligence, it seems that the Japanese are creating a big trouble for us." Looking at the intelligence, Xiao Mao's face turned serious and said, "The defense system of trenches, machine guns, and barbed wire has been tested in the Battle of Yashan and is now increasingly valued by the major powers. Even many foreign military officers stationed in China have gone to observe it, and this complete killing machine has left them speechless, claiming it to be the greatest achievement in the history of warfare."

  "They had no cannons, no machine guns and not even enough rifles. Believe me, as the inventor of this defensive system, I know better than anyone how to attack it." Yang Feng said calmly, of course, most importantly, they didn't have poison gas.

  "General, the Japanese Navy has launched an attack. There are six torpedo boats, two wooden cruisers and three gunboats. The vanguard fleet is clearing the way." To satisfy Yang Feng's bad taste, his sister Caoyi, dressed in a German M1936 National Defense Army female officer uniform, walked over to report, looking like a Kuomintang female agent.

  Yang Fengxia nodded slightly at this point.

  The remaining four capital ships of the combined fleet are still on the west coast, their main task is to guard the Korea Strait, in case the Beiyang Fleet attacks Busan Port. It's worth noting that the 1st and 5th divisions withdrawn from Asan are the hope of Ito Hirobumi, even with the Imperial Guard Division and those makeshift troops, even if Prime Minister Ito, who claims to use the flesh and blood of the Yamato people to build a tomb for the invaders, knows it's not enough.

  The brave, almost suicidal, Japanese naval fleet on the East Coast was annihilated in less than half an hour of sea battle by a fleet consisting of five British destroyers and four German cruisers, one American cruiser, which held a passionate, friendly, sportsmanlike shooting competition at sea. In the end, the Swedish Navy's destroyer Flygande Holl?ndaren won the championship, relying on its crazy firing speed of 76 rounds per minute and a speed of up to 37 knots, this destroyer single-handedly sank four Japanese warships.

  In the smoke of burning Japanese warships, the Eight-Nation Alliance finally appeared off Kamakura in the fading light of sunset. Under the thunder of the 280mm main guns of the Brandenburg-class battleships and the 260mm main guns of the Sachsen-class battleships, this small town where the shogunate originated and the coastal artillery on the nearby Miura Peninsula were reduced to ruins in less than half an hour. Immediately afterwards, four landing ships carrying a full 8,000 men rushed ashore, and the German-Turkish army stormed onto Japan's coast under the cover of dense fire from dozens of warships.

  They encountered no resistance, the Japanese were not fools, fighting within the range of warship cannons was tantamount to suicide, they were all waiting in trenches north of Yokohama. In fact, the entire coastal defense had already been abandoned, as long as the Yokosuka fortress was there, it could block the Eight-Nation Alliance outside Tokyo Bay. Landing at Kamakura and advancing on Tokyo, the closest distance would be over 50 kilometers, all along the way were plains dense with rivers, where the Japanese army could maximize the advantage of trenches. As long as they could hold out for ten days, including the First and Fifth Divisions, even the Kumamoto Division among others, the Imperial Army could arrive, not to mention annihilating the invading enemy, but also forcing them back to sea was still very likely. At that time, slightly softening up a bit, if all else failed, giving more compensation would be enough to send these guys packing.

  Then turn around and launch a full-scale attack on China, making up for what was lost. This is Ito Hirobumi's strategy, and the Battle of Cheongcheon River can be seen that the First Army indeed has the strength to cross the Yalu River, no need to say more, attacking Shengjing can force the Qing government to negotiate, and then double the indemnity paid to Germany will be recovered.

  Since there was no resistance, the landing process went very smoothly. Although Kamakura did not have a port, Yang Feng had landing ships, and all of the Allied forces' heavy equipment was loaded onto the remaining two landing ships, including artillery of various calibers, even vehicles and war horses, which were delivered directly to the beach. At the same time, each ship lowered its small boats, transporting infantry from the troop ships. After a whole day and night of busy work, by the evening of the second day, nearly 30,000 Allied troops had completed their landing, establishing a military camp stretching from Kamakura to Sagami River, extending over ten kilometers, with an imposing array of thousands of soldiers and horses.

  That night, the troops were assigned tasks and divided into three routes. 5,000 German troops under the command of Little Ma Qi coordinated with the naval fleet to attack the Yokosuka fortress. Although the Japanese had taken care of the rear when building the fort, it was still difficult to take care of both sides in a situation where they were attacked from both front and back. Moreover, with Yang Feng's wireless telegraph, the naval fleet could coordinate very tacitly with the infantry, and the Miura Peninsula stretched out alone, within the range of the main guns of the current fleet, and even Yokosuka could be bombarded from three directions.

  Yang Feng's Ottoman Turkish army and Song Qing's Yi Army, along with the Chao and Liu armies, launched an attack on Yokohama, while Waldersee led 15,000 German troops in a direct assault on Kawasaki and Tokyo. Since he was willing to test his firepower himself, Yang Feng would naturally be very welcome, and Yokohama wasn't bad either - it had been an old port for many years, so there must be plenty of valuable things to plunder.

  Thus on the second day at dawn, the three armies simultaneously launched an attack towards their respective targets.

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