Chapter 65: The Fall of Shuri Castle

  "Run quickly!" Suddenly, a terrified scream rang out on the beach, and then Japanese police officers hiding behind sand dunes turned their heads, after all, they were just police officers, with an essential difference from regular soldiers. The resistance of the Ryukyu people was still okay, but facing cannons, it was completely useless.

  "Hold your position!" The governor of Nara stood alone on the beach, waving a samurai sword and shouting.

  But at this moment, the twelve 76mm naval guns towering above simultaneously spewed out flames. These large-caliber guns, which could fire more than twenty rounds per minute, instantly turned the entire beach into hell. The Japanese police officers, who had no cover, were blown to pieces one by one in the dense explosion sounds, with limbs flying everywhere and blood staining the beautiful white sand red.

  This is what the governor of Nara said, and almost all Japanese police have begun to collapse. The confrontation between rifles and cannons is hopeless, and the confrontation between manpower and ironclad ships is also a foolish thing to do. Not to mention them, even those armed civilians who haven't been hit by shells are collapsing.

  "Eight cowards! " Nara's governor waved his samurai sword in despair and let out a mournful roar, then pulled out his pistol and vented his anger on the warship not far away. The lead bullets were immediately bounced off by the thick steel plate without leaving any trace.

  A turret originally turning towards him, possibly feeling this guy was more interesting, kindly lifted the barrel a bit higher.

  In the whistling sound of bullets flying over their heads, Nara's brave shooting of a nest of bullets, bent down to reload, but at this time, he was suddenly stunned and opened his mouth wide, because the bow of three ironclad ships suddenly opened simultaneously, followed by a ramp slowly extending from inside, a soldier holding a rifle poked out his head.

  Yang Feng's landing ship is similar to the US LST, of course he doesn't need to transport tanks, so the structure is greatly simplified and the power system is strengthened by many times. In addition, due to the limited technology of Armstrong Shipyard at that time, many parts that are difficult to manufacture inside still use a large amount of wood, so it can reach a speed of 20 knots. The bow is also round in shape, with a large hatch on top that can open to one side, and a wooden ramp can be extended from inside. When the ship runs aground at a displacement of over 2,000 tons, the draft of the bow can be less than 1 meter, and with the nearly 20-meter-long ramp, soldiers can almost directly rush onto the beach. This scene was perfectly performed in front of Nara today.

  A four-meter-wide gangway slowly extended under his stunned gaze, stretching nearly twenty meters out to the sandy beach. Fully armed soldiers poured out of the ship's hold like three green dragons charging onto the beach. They immediately dispersed and raised their rifles to fire at the fleeing Japanese people. A coarse-looking officer, holding two pistols, walked up to the already stunned Governor of Nara, spat a thick wad of phlegm in front of him, then gestured with his pistol, and two soldiers quickly moved forward.

  At this time, Nara's governor finally reacted.

  "Hah!" He had barely raised his hand when the officer's gun fired, hitting his Colt revolver and sending it flying with a loud clang. Nara no Chikai didn't hesitate, drawing out his family heirloom sword and raising it high over his head to bring down on the officer with a battle cry. But before he could strike, the officer raised his hand again and fired another shot, causing Nara's hand to shake violently as the sword fell, now only half its original length. The officer then brought the butt of his other gun down hard on Nara's head, sending the famous kendo master crashing to the sandy beach like a dead dog.

  Two thousand soldiers rushed to the beach, while Governor-General of Korea's three-thousand-strong army had already released sheep, including hundreds of dead ones. The beach was littered with corpses, and countless Japanese people were fleeing wildly in front, continuing to create more bodies amidst the explosions of shells. Those who held guns were relatively better off, as some managed to turn back and fire a few shots. The armed civilians, however, had already fled quickly to Seoul Castle.

  At the same time, the 76 guns on the landing ship also extended their fire, coordinating with the pursuing infantry to mop up the remaining Japanese, while another group of infantry quickly controlled the port, and then the Parrot-class cruiser, which had been watching from a distance, slowly approached from behind the fleet and docked at Naha Port.

  Wearing his classic SS leather trench coat, holding an eagle-topped cane in hand, Boss Yang strode down the gangway with a swagger, surrounded by a phalanx of bodyguards, while the Ryukyu guide trotted along beside him like a lackey. Just then two soldiers brought over Governor Nara.

  The dog's eyes lit up immediately.

  "Governor Yang, this is the Okinawa governor sent by the Japanese." He hastily moved closer to Yang and said.

  "Pseudo-official, not worth mentioning." Boss Yang looked at Nara with disdain and stretched out his hand behind him. The mute black slave, who understood his intention very well, quickly handed over a pistol, which was then passed to the guide beside him, saying: "Execute on the spot."

  "Ah?" The tour guide was stunned for a moment.

  "What's wrong, aren't you daring? Or do you have some relationship with this fake official?" Yang Feng said with a glare.

  The guide looked at the pistol with a worried expression, gritted his teeth and took it from Yang Feng's hand, then grabbed Nara's hair and kicked him in the knee.

  Poor Nara governor suddenly knelt down on the ground and was immediately shot in the head.

  "This gun is yours." Yang Da Boss nodded with satisfaction, turned around and walked towards the direction of Shouli City without even looking at the corpse on the ground. At this time, the vanguard of the landing force had already driven the remaining Japanese troops into the city, leaving over a thousand Japanese corpses along the way. However, since they did not receive an order to attack the city, the naval gunfire ceased.

  The remaining Japanese fled into Shuri Castle, closed the gates and prepared to turtle up. Some of the bolder ones even ran up onto the walls and fired outwards. Yang Feng's mercenaries quickly dispersed to find cover, probably given courage by the castle walls. Even some armed civilians ran up, with some incredibly shooting arrows outwards, making Yang Feng frown.

  "Why don't we slow down first, wait for Xiao Ren to come up with a plan to sneak into the city and contact Lord Xiang Zhili inside the city. He has always had high hopes for the Heavenly Dynasty, and this opportunity will surely be able to raise his righteousness. At that time, you can cooperate with him from inside and outside, and it will be easy to break through the strong city of Shouli." The guide beside him said hastily.

  "This is also called a strong city?" Yang Feng looked at the low and short city wall in the distance with great disdain. However, it's already quite impressive to build a castle on such a small island, so it's not surprising that they boast about it. Considering that there were three countries here in the past, he was curious about the scale of the war between the Ryukyu people. It wouldn't be like those Japanese Sengoku period famous generals who brought hundreds of men to fight, would it? If so, then having a castle like this would indeed make them invincible.

  The guide smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to respond to Yang Feng. Then he saw the general, whose mental state was not very stable, turn his head towards a soldier behind him and say something in a voice that the guide couldn't understand. The Western soldier immediately turned around and waved two small flags in his hand at the giant ironclad warship on the distant sea surface.

  Suddenly a huge warship above burst into flames, and an ear-piercing whistling sound swept over the top of their heads.

  The guide subconsciously turned his head with the whistling sound, and saw that on the city wall of Shuri in the distance, four huge fireballs suddenly exploded, and the city wall, which had been unshakeable in his heart since childhood, disappeared instantly in the flames.

  "There is no strong fortress in the face of a big cannon, let alone this small Shuri Castle. Even the Forbidden City in Beijing can be blown open by me." Yang Feng said with a arrogant expression, looking at the distant Shuri Castle which was blasted open by a huge gap, without feeling that his words were somewhat disrespectful.

  Fortunately, the guide was already stunned by the heavy artillery and didn't hear what he said.

  The "Raiders" fired a total of nine rounds in this salvo, with four hitting the city wall, two falling outside the city, and three flying into the city, creating three blank areas with diameters of tens of meters inside the city. The Ryukyu people in the city were finished, and at this rate, it wouldn't take a few more rounds to flatten this small city.

  It's been over a decade since Japan annexed Ryukyu, and many among the officials and common people here still have their hearts set on the old country. Previously, they didn't have enough courage, but now it won't do; if they're allowed to continue fighting, their homes will be gone. To be honest, those ordinary people might not care who rules over their heads, but when it comes to their own homeland, they can't help but care.

  It was not necessary for anyone to start the uprising, and the originally quite fierce and combative Ryukyu people poured out of their homes one by one. Although they didn't have any decent weapons, they were not lacking in things like fish spears and short knives. Then, with a menacing aura, they attacked from behind the Japanese on the city walls. Those Japanese had already been frightened out of their wits by the heavy artillery and couldn't withstand being attacked from both front and back.

  At this time, on the Marauder, the second round of shelling began. This round was more accurate, basically all hitting near the city wall, with only one shell flying into the city. By now, a third of the front city wall had been blasted down, and the city wall no longer had any defensive significance. The remaining Japanese troops hastily retreated to the east of the city.

  The mercenaries outside immediately rushed out of their hiding places and surged into Shuri Castle under the leadership of their respective officers.