Somewhere west of Edo——

Cannons pointed diagonally at the sky.

Flames erupted from the black hole of the muzzle.

The outburst of the cannonball drew a beautiful parabola in mid-air, and then fell heavily into Edo Town.

In an instant, the sound of explosions spread throughout Edo and beyond.

For the French-Qich coalition, this is the last battle in the true sense.

The surprise attack on Nagoya, the defeat of Sunfu, the offensive and defensive battle of Hachioji... After experiencing this series of bloody battles, the current battle of Edo Cage Castle is undoubtedly the last battle of the "Amanuma Spear"!

For this battle, Changzhou endured humiliation and endured heavy hardships.

For this battle, the Fa Zun Party has been preparing for a long time.

All this hard work, all these sacrifices... are all for this battle!

At this point, there is no need to save artillery shells.

Therefore, Shuten Doji specifically issued an order to the artillery team: Just fight! Fight hard! Use up all the artillery shells!

…

…

The main formation of the French-Qich coalition——

Shuten Doji put his hands behind his back and looked forward with an expressionless face, staring at the devastated Edo.

Katsura Kogoro stood beside him, holding up the telescope in his hand, and carefully looked at every street, alley, and corner of Edo.

After a moment, he put down the telescope and said slowly:

"Edo has completely changed."

"The streets have been widened and densely packed houses have been demolished... It's really a drastic transformation."

"In this way, even if a fire breaks out somewhere, it will be difficult for the fire to spread."

"Zhu Rong's power... I'm afraid I can't count on it."

How to capture Edo - Regarding this issue, the generals of the French-Qich coalition held countless meetings and jointly discussed a large number of tactics.

Of course, most of them are delusions and extravagant thoughts that can only exist in the mind and mouth and cannot be implemented at all.

However, there are some tactics that have gained widespread recognition - one of them is fire attack!

They planned to take advantage of "Edo's fear of fire" and launch a fire attack with the help of intensive artillery rain.

In this way, they could destroy most of the defenders of Edo without spending a single soldier.

However... judging from the current situation, their plan has failed.

Although time was tight, under the personal command of Katsu Rintaro, the major renovation of the entire town of Edo was finally completed before the war began!

A large part of the reason why the renovation can be completed so quickly depends on the "ease of dismantling" of Edo architecture.

Because they are all wooden buildings, they are very easy to dismantle.

With a few hammer blows, the pillar can be broken.

Hang a few ropes on the wall and pull it down with a strong pull.

During this period, the members of Edo's town fire department, or "fire brigade," were of great help.

When it comes to house demolition, they are professionals!

In this way, thanks to Rintaro Katsu's "Great Renovation of Edo", Edo's fire resistance has been greatly increased!

It was obvious that the French-Qich coalition's fire attack could no longer be realized.

At this time, Katsura Kogoro suddenly noticed that the Shuten boy next to him had an expression that was half-smiling but not smiling, as if he was thinking about something.

When it comes to Shuten Doji, Katsura Kogoro never pays attention to being "polite", "tactful" and "subtle".

He asked bluntly:

"Shuten Doji, what's wrong? Why do you have such an intriguing expression?"

Shuten Doji shrugged.

"It's nothing. I'm just...a little emotional."

He took a deep breath, and a bit of pride appeared on his face.

"Katsura-kun, look! Edo is right in front of us!"

"This castle town is not only the base of the Edo shogunate, but also the symbol of the Tokugawa family!"

"And now, our cannons are ravaging this city!"

"In a few moments, our soldiers will charge and launch a battle to 'destroy the shogunate'."

"The Toyotomi family, Amakusa Shiro, Oshio Heihachiro...the goals that countless forces and countless heroes could not achieve have been achieved by us."

"When I think about this, I am so excited that I can't control myself!"

"Whether this battle succeeds or fails, it is destined to go down in history!"

By the end of his words, an excited flush filled his cheeks, and his eyes were shining.

Compared with him, Katsura Kogoro's reaction was much duller.

He doesn't have such romantic feelings.

He has no interest in the so-called "going down in history".

Even after listening to Shuten Doji's impassioned speech, he didn't express anything and remained expressionless.

At this moment, he has only one thought: defeat the shogunate and save Changzhou! Then he can realize his dream of respecting the king and repelling the barbarians!

At this moment, a series of deafening loud noises interrupted their conversation.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

It's the explosion of artillery shells.

However, these shells did not fall towards Edo, but beside them!

The strong shock wave stirred up the dust and hit Shuten Doji and Katsura Kogoro like a huge wave.

The reaction speed of the two was very fast, and both of them were short in stature.

Soon, the shock wave dissipated and the dust fell back to the ground.

"Guijun, are you injured?"

"What did you say?!"

"Are you hurt?!"

"I'm fine! My ears just hurt!"

Although the two men were not injured, the loud noise of the shell explosion caused pain in their ears, and a "buzzing" sound like the buzzing of mosquitoes was produced deep in the ear holes.

Within a short period of time, their hearing will never be restored.

They had to shout at the top of their lungs to barely hear each other's voices.

Katsura Kogoro wiped his face, wiped away the stains, raised his eyes, stared at Edo in the distance, and muttered:

"They fought back...!"

…

…

Edo, a certain fort——

"Get the shells quickly!"

"Don't panic! Don't be nervous!"

"How you train on weekdays, do it now!"

Young and agile figures moved between the cannons, manipulating the cannons skillfully.

Cleaning the barrel, loading gunpowder, compacting the shells... every action and process is so skillful.

"Saito of Power" Saito Yakuro ran back and forth among his disciples, supervising their movements and ensuring that the procedures were standardized, while speaking out to boost morale.

"Fire! Fire!"

"Don't be stingy with the cannonballs! There are enough cannonballs!"

"Let the bandit army see the power of our 'Saito style artillery'!"

Within a few moments, each gun was reloaded and ready - the second round of bombardment started!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Cannonballs rose high one after another.
To be continued...