"General Tachibana, the Shinsengumi are truly a powerful force in the world!"

"Yes! With such a strong army here, why worry about Changzhou not being destroyed and the world being unjust!"

"General Orange, today's battle really opened my eyes!"

Of course, these words are not all false flattery.

The Shinsengumi's fierce combat power, especially the dense rain of artillery shells and the wall-like advance of the musketeers, gave them a great shock.

Following the "Kyoto Summer Formation", many feudal lords and feudal generals were shocked beyond words by witnessing the terrifying combat power of the Shinsengumi.

Qingdeng was already used to these disgusting flatteries.

Now, after listening to these flattery, he not only doesn't feel happy, but also feels a little funny.

Of course, since someone takes the initiative to show kindness, he will not fail to give him face.

He skillfully showed a polite and decent smile, and responded to everyone one by one.

While socializing, his attention was always on the distant battlefield.

His facial expression did not relax at all as he defeated the Changshu Army on the opposite side.

…

…

The pursuit of Matsubara Chuji and Nakazawa Qin is nothing worth writing about.

When they led the cavalry out into battle, the Changzhou Army on the opposite side was on the verge of collapse and had only one breath left. The arrival of the cavalry directly snuffed out this last breath.

Charging, slashing, assaulting... the Changzhou Army was defeated across the board without any surprise, and their fighting spirit was completely lost.

Under the intensified pursuit of the cavalry, they either died or fled, and were almost completely wiped out.

At this point, it only took less than an hour before and after, this pass that was crucial to Changzhou was completely declared to have fallen!

Qingdeng's goal was to break through Yizhoukou in half a day - it turned out that "half a day" was too much time!

Capturing Yizhoukou was equivalent to opening the door to Zhou Fangguo.

In Qingdeng's plan, after breaking through Yizhoukou, the legion would march straight in, marching southwestward, and invade the hinterland of Zhou Fangguo.

First occupy the Forty-eight Bans and Iwakuni, and then attack Zhou Nan in one go.

Zhou Nan is the important town of Zhou Defense Kingdom.

Winning Zhou Nan is equivalent to winning half of Zhou Fangguo.

Then, with Zhounan as the fulcrum, the legion circled northwest, with its front pointed directly at the mountain pass.

Yamaguchi is not only an important town of Zhou Fang Kingdom, but also the gateway of Nagato Kingdom.

In other words, as long as you capture Yamaguchi, you can march into Nagato Country and capture Hagi Castle!

If Hagi Castle is destroyed, Choshu will be destroyed!

Simple and clear route of entry.

If everything goes well, according to Qingto's expectation, the legion will be able to reach Hagi Castle in just half a month!

Of course, whether his expectations can be realized must be based on the premise of "smoothness".

After a short rest, Qingdeng left 3,000 troops to guard Yizhoukou, and then led the remaining troops to break camp in the afternoon of the same day and invade the hinterland of Changzhou.

The reason for marching in such a hurry is that on the one hand, we adhere to the combat concept of "soldiers are more valuable and speed is faster". Taking advantage of the Changzhou Army's new defeat and before it has time to integrate the remaining troops, we can advance the front line in one go and expand the results of the battle.

On the other hand, it is also to find the main force of the Changzhou Army as soon as possible...that is, the Qibing Team.

On the day after Yizhoukou was captured, the two legions responsible for launching feint attacks at Shizhoukou and Xiaocangkou coincidentally sent battle reports to Qingdeng.

According to their reports, they followed Qingdeng's instructions and spared no effort to attack the passes (Shizhoukou and Xiaocangkou). All three armies fought hard, but the Changzhou Army was too cunning and did not make any substantial progress.

Think about it and know that their "spare no effort to attack" must be "sparing no effort to fish".

It is really difficult for them to make up the excuse that "the Changzhou Army is too cunning" to excuse them.

The performance of these two legions was completely within Qingdeng's expectations.

Since I had no expectations for them in the first place, there was naturally no disappointment.

To say that they have not contributed anything is not true.

At the very least, they completed the task of "containing Changzhou" well, and at the same time helped Qingdeng confirm that the Qibing Team was neither at Shizhoukou nor Xiaocangkou.

Where did the Raiders go?

This question was like a huge stone filling Qingdeng's chest.

The lingering uneasiness always lingers in his heart.

Only by sending troops to advance into the hinterland of Choshu and gradually approaching Hagi City can this constraint be somewhat alleviated.

…

…

Two days later, the legion arrived in Zhounan as scheduled.

Under the restrictions of the "One Country, One City Order", Zhounan had neither city walls nor camps, and was just a "bare" town.

When the legions came to the city, there were no defenders inside or outside Zhounan. There were only some old, young, women and children left in the town who had not had time to escape, and who were unable to escape.

In this way, Qingdeng Wushang took over this castle.

When troops were sent to inspect Zhou Nan's warehouse, as expected, the warehouse had been emptied out long ago. Not even a grain of rice was left. Rats wanted to commit suicide after entering.

"Emptying supplies" is a basic operation of war, so it is neither a surprise nor a pity.

Compared with the failure to obtain supplies, Qingteng felt more regretful that "the team has not been found yet".

In recent days, he has sent the maximum number of scouts and ninjas to go deep into various parts of Changzhou to search for and explore the traces of the Qi Corps.

Although I tried my best, there was no result...

The Rangers seemed to have disappeared out of thin air, and no information could be collected about them.

In this way, the uneasiness and embarrassment in Qingdeng's heart that he had finally suppressed swelled again, and gradually turned into an ominous premonition...

…

…

Nobi Plain, Owari Domain——

In Japan, there is a classic saying: "Those who win the beauty of beauty will win the world."

The Noo Plain includes Mino Country and Owari Country, so it is called "Noo".

As one of Japan's three major plains, the Noo Plain with flat terrain and fertile soil is a well-deserved "breadbasket."

The extraordinary amount of grain production has made the Nobi Plain one of the richest areas in Japan.

Not only that, Mino happens to be located in the narrowest part of Honshu Island, separating East Japan and West Japan.

In other words, if you take Mino as the starting point, you can attack East Japan by going east, and you can attack Western Japan by going west.

Such a treasure land is truly the foundation of the King’s Domination!

It is precisely because this place has abundant resources and occupies a unique geographical advantage that there is a saying that "whoever gets Meinong will get the world."

During the Warring States Period three hundred years ago, Oda Nobunaga took control of Mino and Owari Kingdom, and immediately became a great daimyo with a height of one million koku.

He used Noubi Hirao as his base and attacked in all directions. Under the influence of the "snowball effect", he annexed half of Japan in the blink of an eye.

After Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo shogunate, gained control of the country, he was deeply aware of the importance of the Noo Plain, so he established a feudal lord in Owari and enfeoffed his relatives here, which became the Owari Domain.

The status of Nongwei Plain is quite important.

Unexpectedly, after the "Black Ship Incident", its status has risen a lot!

If you open the map and take a closer look, you can see that Owari is like a knife, inserted into the Pacific Ocean, forming a horn with Ise Country on the other side, and together they form a harbor.

This kind of terrain is very suitable for opening a port and building a port.

The so-called "God rewards you with food" is nothing more than this.

It is not difficult to imagine that after the establishment of the port, Owari Domain's economy will usher in an impressive boom with the help of maritime transportation.

It's just... It's a pity that although the Owari Domain is a powerful domain with a height of 620,000 stone, after more than two hundred years, it has become like the shogunate. The domain is full of decay, corruption, and countless

The problem needs to be solved urgently, and there is really no time left to build any port.

It's dark now.

Low-hanging dark clouds covered the sky, with only a hint of moonlight visible in the southeast corner.

Under the dark night, the sea becomes dark and dark, like an abyss.

The waves rolled, and the monotonous sound of the waves was like the whisper of the sea.

After the Western powers came over, "coastal defense" became a hot word among the vassals.

Every vassal state that borders the sea talks about this word and promotes it as a national policy, as if if they don't do some coastal defense, they will fall behind the world and be ridiculed.
To be continued...