In the early morning of September 13, the 14th year of Chongzhen, the West Route Squadron led by Yang Zhen returned to Izu Oshima. After a short stop and replenishing a large amount of fresh water, it set sail again in the direction of Osaka Bay.

At this time, the East Route Squadron led by the Dutch fleet commander Maximilien Lemaia had successfully entered Edo Bay, and deliberately exposed its whereabouts at noon that day, shelling the city where the city of Yokohama would later be located.

The west coast of Edo Bay.

The prosperous city of Yokohama in later generations was still just a small fishing village with only a hundred households.

However, even this small fishing village was destroyed during the bombardment commanded by Le Maia.

Although the East Route Squadron led by Lemaia and the troops of Li Lu and Yu Haichao who followed the Dutch had no intention of landing on the coast, their shelling operations as they approached the coast still shocked and panicked the shogunate.

In the two days after the bombardment, the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu sent out hundreds of Japanese warships that had been gathered at the mouth of the Edogawa River to intercept the Dutch incoming fleet.

All the daimyo of the western vassal kingdoms who had not come to rescue immediately sent troops to rescue Edo Castle.

However, when the Tokugawa shogunate and its imperial headquarters, Edo Castle, fell into chaos, Yang Zhen led two giant warships, the Yingzhou and the Provencha, as well as eighteen 400-material warships and dozens of sand ships.

The West Route Squadron bypassed the Kii Peninsula and quietly entered the Kii Waterway.

The Kii Suido, located between Shikoku Island and the Kii Peninsula, is not as narrow as ordinary waterways.

On the contrary, its main channel is far away from both coasts, so it is more like a huge bay.

In addition, the West Route Squadron led by Yang Zhen entered the Kii Channel at nightfall on September 14th. Therefore, whether it was the Kii Peninsula clans on the east side of the Kii Channel or the Shikoku clan on the west side of the Kii Channel

None of the vassals on the island noticed the arrival of the fleet led by Yang Zhen.

At this time, all the feudal clans on both sides of the Kii Waterway were busy carrying out the orders of the shogunate, and were busy recruiting the young men in the clan as soldiers again, and then hurried to Edo to resist the invasion of the Dutch fleet.

And since the Dutch fleet has entered Edo Bay, how could they have the ability to clone themselves and suddenly come to the Seto Inland Sea?

Therefore, after receiving the order from the shogunate for reinforcements, they all knew the location of the invading Dutch fleet at the same time.

Therefore, no matter whether it was the family elders of the feudal clans on both sides of the Kii Waterway or the Osaka town in Osaka Bay deep in the Kii Waterway, they did not expect that when the Dutch fleet entered Edo Bay and arrived near Edogawa

, there will be another fleet arriving quietly.

In this way, in the early morning of September 15th, the 14th year of Chongzhen, which is also the so-called early morning of September 15th, the 18th year of Kanei in Japan, in the mist, the fleet led by Yang Zhen, under the guidance of He Tingbin and Rokkaku Genjiro,

They avoided the small islands in the Kitan Strait and successfully broke into Osaka Bay.

In fact, when passing through the Jidan Strait, Yang Zhen still hesitated for a while.

Because Osaka Bay is also a relatively closed bay, once the Japanese deploy a large number of forts on both sides of the Kitan Strait, or deploy a large number of forts on Awaji Island, it will be difficult to enter and exit Osaka Bay.

However, when things come, let's make peace with them. Even if they come, there is no room for Yang Zhen to stay away from the battle.

When the first ray of sunshine in the morning passed over the mountains on the Kii Peninsula and through the morning fog of Osaka Bay, shining on the pier of Osaka Port, the West Route Squadron led by Yang Zhen arrived at Osaka Port accurately.

The nearby mouth of the Yodo River.

The sudden appearance of the West Route Squadron led by Yang Zhensuo immediately caused commotion in Osaka Port and Osaka Town on both sides of the Yodogawa estuary.

Osaka Port is a bustling port directly under the shogunate, with many ships coming and going.

In the early morning, it is the time when ships in the harbor set sail and pass through the Akashi Strait at the other end of Awaji Island, heading to various places along the Seto Inland Sea coast.

However, the fleet led by Yang Zhen took advantage of the early morning mist and suddenly advanced to the mouth of the Yodogawa River in Osaka Bay without anyone noticing, immediately causing chaos in the port.

Some people were stunned on the spot, staring stupidly at the giant ship appearing on the sea.

Some panicked and abandoned their ships and went ashore, shouting and screaming, spreading panic of enemy ships attacking everywhere.

As for the servicemen stationed in Osaka Port and on both sides of the Yodogawa River estuary, they banged the gongs to warn the town residents, and at the same time, under the leadership of the leaders of their respective service groups, they urgently gathered and headed to the shore.

Come running.

Yang Zhen stood on the top deck of the Yingzhou, holding a telescope in his hand, observing the chaos in Osaka Port. At the same time, following Genjiro Rokkaku's prompts, he looked around for the location of the fort in the port.

Just as he was following the direction in which the retrograde Japanese Ashigaru were running, and found the Japanese fort at the mouth of the Yodogawa River, Provencha, who was on the left front of the Yingzhou, had already completed its turn, faced the port with its starboard side, and fired first.

"Boom——"

"Boom——"

"Boom——"

For a moment, the roar of cannons was deafening.

The Dianmen Fort, which had just appeared at the mouth of the Yodo River in Yang Zhen's telescope, was hit by the Proven Search commanded by Thomas Peder, and was soon covered up in the huge smoke and dust caused by the bombardment.

Through the telescope, Yang Zhen only saw groups of panicked Japanese rushing out of the smoke and dust, scurrying around like headless flies.

Their leader pointed the samurai sword in the direction of Yang Zhen and his fleet and howled.

"Fire! Order the heavy artillery to fire! Fire the sky cannon and the thunder cannon together!"

Facing the crowds of people who rushed to the coast to defend themselves, Yang Zhen ruthlessly ordered all the artillery to fire together.

The terrain inside the Osaka Port is quite flat. Except for the Honmaru Castle Tower in the inner city of Osaka, there is not even a hill in the Osaka Town within the port for more than ten miles.

Whether it was the Provincial No. or the Yingzhou No., the huge iron projectiles fired by the ship's heavy artillery had a devastating effect.

Wherever the powerful and heavy heavy artillery shells passed, the soldiers who were running for several miles were shot with blood and flesh, and the wooden machishiki houses were smashed to pieces.

However, in terms of the killing effect on the Japanese on the shore, it must be the large number of sky cannons and flying thunder cannons deployed on the 400-material warships under Yang Zhen's command.

There are a total of eighteen 400-material warships, with hundreds of sky cannons and thunder cannons deployed on them.

And because they are relatively light in weight, they are easy to move and can be fired at high angles. They do not have to be limited to port and starboard like the Hongyi heavy artillery.

When any 400-material warship completes side parking, all sky cannons and thunder cannons on the ship can be fired at the same time.

Therefore, when the eighteen 400-ton warships under Yang Zhen lined up along the coast, and after berthing sideways, they almost wiped out the Japanese who had heard the news and rushed to the coast for defense with just one salvo.

And empty.

A large number of Osaka officers in uniform and the Ashigaru men guarding the forts in the harbor under Osaka Castle were wounded by shrapnel from sky cannons and torpedo cannons. They lay down on the stone floor of the pier, screaming and wailing.

And those Japanese who were farther away and who were lucky enough to avoid the shrapnel of the explosive shells broke up and fled in all directions.

Shortly after the 15th day of September in the 14th year of Chongzhen, the Osaka Port pier and the coast near the pier were occupied by the West Route Squadron led by Yang Zhen.

Subsequently, Yang Zhen ordered Thomas Pedel's Provencha to destroy the east and west forts at the mouth of the Yodogawa River, then go upstream along the mouth of the Yodogawa River, the Yodo Gate, and bombard the Osaka Castle Honmaru Castle Tower in Osaka Port.

At the same time, Zhang Guogan, Zhang Tianbao, and Sun Dengxuan were ordered to lead the accompanying Jinhai Town musketeers, grenadiers, and sky artillery teams, and boarded the coastal pier of Osaka Port. Under the guidance of Rokkaku Genjiro, they used grenadiers to clear the way.

Attack on Osaka Castle Honmaru Castle.

The situation in Osaka Port and Minato Town was just as Yang Zhen and others expected. Except for the personnel of the Osaka Administrative Office located in the port, the defense of Osaka's important areas was indeed empty, and there was no decent military garrison.

Including Osaka Castle Honmaru, although the stone wall is quite tall and strong, there are not many troops stationed on it.

At the same time, its wooden city gate and castle tower could not withstand not only the heavy artillery bombardment from the direction of Yodogawa, but also the bombardment of the sky cannon that Sun Dengxuan ordered people to transport.

The Honmaru fortress in the inner city of Osaka, which was newly built by the Tokugawa family, is quite strong. Above the Honmaru, on the base of the castle tower, there was originally a turret for the Kokubōbōro machine.

If these so-called national collapses are still on the fort, then it may not be an easy task for Zhang Guogan, Zhang Tianbao, and Sun Dengxuan to capture the high-ranking Osaka Castle Honmaru Castle Tower.

Even if we win in the end, I'm afraid we will have to pay a heavy price.

But with Genjiro Rokkaku leading the way, the situation is different.

Because when Rokkaku Genjiro was under the command of Matsudaira Nobutsuna, he saw Osaka Castle Dai Abe Masaji when he led the army to Edo Castle and passed through Izu.

At that time, when Shoji Abe visited Matsudaira Nobutsuna, he proudly boasted to Matsudaira Nobutsuna that he had more than a dozen Kokubang under his command.

In addition, he also brought with him the 200 archers, 1,200 arquebusiers and more than 800 pikemen who were supposed to be stationed in and around Osaka Castle, almost all the troops stationed around Osaka.

go.

In this regard, Rokkaku Genjiro, one of the subordinates under Matsudaira Nobutsuna, naturally reported all these situations to his new benefactor Yang Zhen through He Tingbin on the ship coming to Osaka Castle.

Therefore, Zhang Guogan, Zhang Tianbao, and Sun Deng chose them to clear the way with grenadiers and musketeers, and when they reached the outside of Osaka Castle Honmaru stone wall effortlessly, facing the stretched troops on the stone wall, they only had a few cannons to fire.

Go out and scatter the guards on the stone wall.

Afterwards, under the cover of Zhang Guogan's musketeers who continued to fire at the top of the city, Zhang Tianbao personally led a group of grenadiers to approach the city gate, blew up the gate with a blasting tube, and then poured in.
Chapter completed!