Chapter Ninety-two First Battle

  "What have I done?!" Looking at the empty Yokohama city in front of him, Jiang Guiti was stunned for a moment, and then his lips trembled as he let out a mournful howl.

  Last time in Sendai, Song Qing's department got more than 1 million taels of silver. Even if it was divided equally with Yang Feng, there would still be at least 700,000 taels left. The 2,700 soldiers under his command were overjoyed. This time, hearing that they were going to attack the Japanese capital, they all shouted and rushed forward. Even Jiang Gui, who had been blinded in one eye by toxic gas, was eager to get on board. Ma Yukun couldn't hold them back. Who knew that a group of bandits would rush into Yokohama with clenched fists, only to find it an empty city? The disappointment is self-evident.

  The Japanese wouldn't be foolish enough to leave Yokohama for them to plunder, although the city is in Tokyo Bay and Kamakura is in Sagami Bay, but the two places are only a little over ten kilometers apart. On the northern mountain top of Kamakura, an observation post was built, and the 130mm gun on the Chiyoda could easily wipe out the entire Yokohama. So before confirming the landing site of the Eight-Nation Alliance, Ito Hirobumi wisely evacuated all the residents of this city to within the Tokyo defense circle, and even foreigners followed suit to escape being affected.

  The infuriated Janissaries and mercenaries, or Ottoman Turkish soldiers as they are now formally known, after conducting a house-to-house search and determining that the people of Yokohama had fled, in a fit of pique set fire to the city.

  Just as the Great Fire of Yokohama was breaking out, more than 70 Krupp cannons on the south bank of the Tsurumi River also began bombarding Japanese trenches on the north bank. Under a sky shrouded in dark clouds, row upon row of 75mm field guns fired incessantly at targets four kilometers away, pouring shells down like a torrent. The deafening roar was like the wailing of countless devils, and the dense explosions sent shockwaves crashing through the air, while shell fragments wildly rained down on Japanese soil.

  Soldiers of the Japanese Seventh Division, guarding the first line of defense in Tokyo, held various old-fashioned rifles cobbled together and huddled with their heads down in shallow trenches. Amidst the heart-wrenching cries, they waited bitterly for fate's decision, as the entire earth above them was boiling, steel, shattered stones, and mud surging like a tsunami wave to engulf one small body after another.

  This trench is too shallow, of course, it's also unavoidable. Digging a 1.5-meter-deep trench would probably make it impossible for most Japanese soldiers to see the enemy, and the soil quality of the Kwantung Plain is too loose. This fertile soil can grow crops, but it's not good at withstanding the explosion of shells, even if they are the 75mm nitrocellulose shells that Yang Feng thinks are too weak.

  The trenches, where Ito Hirobumi had placed high hopes, were being bombarded with explosive shells, and the mud that was blown up and the fragmented bodies of Japanese soldiers were flattened piece by piece, burying countless other soldiers. The new recruits who had just put down their shovels, more and more people could not bear this cruel battlefield environment, one by one they crawled out of the trenches screaming and left this hell, of course, such a result was that they went to hell at the fastest speed.

  The quality of the German artillery in this era can be said to be unparalleled. Especially now, they not only have field guns but also temporarily equipped with mortars purchased from Hanyang Arsenal, which has been tested on the battlefield of Yashan and has become a priority for various countries to equip next. Accurate shooting, crazy firing speed, artillery has decided the outcome of this battle.

  More than 100 large cannons, after about 15 minutes of artillery preparation. Four German infantry regiments simultaneously launched a charge against the Japanese defensive line, with dozens of Maxim machine guns spewing flames behind them to cover their attack, but it was clear that the Germans had not yet learned true open-order combat.

  More than 10,000 German soldiers in dense formation waded through knee-deep water, firing intense volleys at the opposite bank while advancing under the command of officers waving their swords. As they charged towards the nearby riverbank, drummers were even beating out the attack rhythm beside them.

  Instead of a warm welcome, they were met with sparse gunfire from the opposite side. Thick smoke filled the air as lead bullets whizzed by, and one by one, German soldiers fell to the ground amidst splattering blood. The river water churned up with bright red blood flowing downstream, a stark sight to behold. However, the well-trained and disciplined Germans paid no heed to the deaths around them, holding their bayonet-tipped rifles like robots as they struggled through the river waters.

  This scene stunned the hastily arriving mercenaries who were preparing to follow and loot Tokyo, while Song Qing was still educating his subordinates: "Look at them, this is what a real army looks like, and look at you when you fight, one charge and you're as chaotic as a pack of dogs chasing pigs."

  Li Yuncong looked at him speechlessly and decided to find an opportunity to educate this admiral who was more than twice his age with facts.

  The narrow Kose River could not truly block the German army, and soon the vanguard of the attacking troops had already set foot on the riverbank. At this time, with the weakening of artillery density, the remaining Japanese soldiers in the trenches, driven by the idea of defending their homes and country, also began to regain their courage under the angry roar of their officers, then tremblingly holding the old rifles in their hands, lying in the trenches, facing the dense bullets flying from the opposite side, they started shooting.

  These hastily mobilized reserve soldiers were naturally not comparable to the German army's elite in terms of quality, and their numbers were too small to form a truly suppressive firepower. Moreover, they were not very familiar with trench warfare, and many people even stood inside shooting as they did during peacetime training, only to be covered by dense machine gun bullets one by one.

  Next up was the classic bayonet fight, at which point those Japanese new recruits calmed down, it could be seen that they had been practicing hard every day, and on top of that, they were originally from Germany, although they were at an absolute disadvantage in numbers, their physical fitness was not comparable to that of the Germans, but they still managed to give the Germans some real trouble. Looking at the bloody bayonet fight in front of them, Song Qing and others were actually hot-blooded, I guess they found the feeling of those years ago, judging from their expressions, if it weren't for the distance, I reckon they would have drawn their waist knives and charged up by now.

  The outcome of the bayonet charge was a foregone conclusion, and the remaining several hundred Japanese soldiers were all knocked to the ground in just over ten minutes.

  In fact, the Japanese army only deployed one regiment on this defense line, and they were all old-fashioned muzzle-loading guns and even iron cannons. In other words, they came to consume German ammunition while probing the enemy's combat strength with cannon fodder. The real main force was at Tama River, which was the Japanese army's final defense line. However, this group of trash still made the Germans pay a price of nearly 100 casualties after being bombarded for 15 minutes.

  This result made Waldersee very satisfied, since it was a war, the death of people was normal, and the elimination of thousands of Japanese troops with one hundred casualties could already be described as a victory. However, the bravery of the Japanese army was also somewhat unexpected for him, in his view, these oriental nations should have collapsed in front of the powerful German soldiers.

  Just as he launched an attack on this side, the fleet led by Tirpitz also launched an attack on the Japanese artillery positions on both sides of Tokyo Bay. This was a relatively difficult task. The Japanese had built a large number of artillery positions on both sides of Tokyo Bay. There were the Misaki, Kenzaki and Jōgashima batteries at the tip of the Miura Peninsula, and the Chōshi and ōfuchi batteries on the Bōsō Peninsula across the water from them. Further inland, there were the Chidorigafuchi and Kannonzaki batteries on the east coast, and the Motofuji and Kanaya batteries on the west coast, which formed a product-shaped layout with them. In addition, there were the First, Second and Third Sea Forts on the small islands at the entrance to Tokyo Bay, which could be said to have formed a complete defensive system stretching for tens of kilometers, all equipped with their own domestically produced 280mm bronze coastal defense guns, whose firepower was not inferior to that of German battleships.

  There's no shortcut to this task, can only use the ship's guns to blast them one by one. Even if it's a ground attack led by Mao Qi, its main purpose is to harass and pin down the enemy. His main target is the Japanese ammunition depot at Kinugasa, which has already started exchanging fire with the defending Japanese troops. However, since he's fighting in mountainous terrain, progress will definitely be slow. The only way to truly take out these Japanese strongholds is by relying on warships.

  Under the command of Admiral Tirpitz, the Allied fleet first began bombarding the three forts on the island of Tsukishima in Miura Peninsula. More than 20 capital ships fired hundreds of large-caliber guns simultaneously, unleashing a terrifying display of firepower. The sea surface was filled with thunderous booms, smoke and flames, and the air was pierced by the whistling of shells. The pressure waves generated by the large-caliber cannons created massive semicircular ripples on the water's surface. Yang Feng, watching from a distance, felt his blood boiling with excitement.

  The opponent's 280 and 240 large guns were not weak, in the flames of exploding shells, a series of bright muzzle flashes burst out, in the sound of breaking through the air, columns of water rose from the fleet, and even the explosion of warships being hit, both sides went back and forth to launch a large-scale artillery battle.

  But after all, the Japanese army was still weak. Although the shore-based artillery had an advantage over the naval guns, the problem was that there was a warship in the Eight-Nation Alliance fleet that was far beyond their range, specifically using poison gas shells to harass these gun emplacements. The current mission of the HMS Ravager was to use poison gas shells to harass them.

  Although the sea breeze could quickly blow away these poisonous gases, the soldiers on the open gun positions still couldn't withstand it. With bursts of deadly fumes exploding around them from time to time, it was simply impossible for those soldiers to fight normally. Moreover, they only had three artillery emplacements in total, and the ones at Odawara and Ohito could only watch helplessly as the fleet attacked from Sagami Bay. The cannon battle lasted less than an hour before the Japanese counterattack fell silent.