Tyranny of Steel

Chapter 685 - Capturing the Enemy's Family

Itami stood on the hills above the personal domain of the Mōri clan, with her sword in hand. She was dressed in a uniform that resembled that of a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, specifically from the Taisho era. Her soldiers were equipped in similar attire, albeit with the proper ranks for their position, while wearing type 90 based steel helmets.

The Self-Proclaimed Empress of Japan had yet to hear from her most loyal General who she dispatched to her homeland in an attempt to protect it from the main forces of the Rebel Army. It was an arduous task, but Itami had used the greatest defensive techniques she could think of when she built her family's territory into a massive fortress.

At the very least, she was confident that her soldiers could defend the land until she had succeeded in her aim. Dawn had yet to arrive on this day, and because of this, the darkness in the sky concealed her and her army from what few defenders remained in the enemy fortress. She did not hesitate to attack, instead the moment she arrived she issued orders to her followers to set up the new field guns.

Unlike Berengar, who had opted to mass produce the early Krupp Guns because of ease of manufacturing. Itami had opted to create a more complicated artillery piece from a later era of Japanese history. Though she would have less of them early on, she figured she could use them for a greater period, and not bother having to replace them in five to ten years, when her manufacturing abilities became advanced enough to produce these pieces on a larger scale.

The artillery in question was heavily based upon the Type 38 75mm Field Gun used by Imperial Japanese forces during the Great War of her past life. Essentially, the Type 38 was nothing more than a Krupp 7.5 cm Model 1903 that had been licensed and produced by the Osaka Arsenal. The major difference between the two artillery pieces was the Japanese modified the breach block to make use of the interrupted screw pattern block, rather than the Horizontal sliding block. Was this an improvement? Far from it, but it was the type of action that Japanese troops were already familiar with.

These weapons were later modified in Itami's past life to return to the original sliding block design. Something Itami opted to make use of in this life from the get go. The other noticeable feature of this artillery piece was its hydro-spring recoil system. This was far more advanced than the 7.5cm FK 22 Rifled breechloaders currently in use by Berengar's army. However, when compared to the hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism that was used by the new field guns Berengar planned to introduce in the coming years, it was obsolete.

The shells fired by this gun were the Fixed QF 75 x 294mm R, which had a rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute, with an effective range of 8,350m. Of course, due to the complexity of manufacturing, Itami was only able to create a single battery of these new artillery pieces. Still, it was more than enough to bring an end to the enemy's defenses. Thus, with a swing of her sword, the signal was given to the Artillery crews to fire a barrage onto the gates of the enemy castle.

The roar of thunder echoed in the air as the field guns fired their shots into the air and onto the enemy's gatehouse. With a single barrage of six shells, the gatehouse was torn apart. Though the men were about to load another shell, Itami gave them the order to cease fire.

"Cease fire!"

She had a limited number of artillery shells at the moment because of the severe lack of TNT she had available to her. Unlike the German Empire, which had long since established complex chemical manufacturing plants, and had spent years training its thousands of chemists, Itami's Japanese Empire was severely limited in its chemical manufacturing ability with only a few dozen properly trained chemists beneath her rule.

She was only now realizing how her conservative approach to science and engineering had limited her abilities to mass produce her newest weapons in the early years of her army's modernization. Perhaps if she were a man, her teachings of science would have become more widespread, unfortunately she was born as a woman in an era where women had few rights. It was a testament to her ability that she had managed to ascend to her current status.

The moment the shells detonated on the gatehouse, the guards of the castle were alerted, but it was no use, they were vastly outmatched by the single shot bolt action rifles in use by Itami's forces. The soldiers of the Empress stood on the hill above the Castle, and the town it protected, waiting for the soldiers of the Mōri clan to come rushing out at them.

It did not take long for the enemy to charge up the hillside, and towards the enemy, vastly underestimating the abilities of their enemy as they did so. The Imperial Japanese soldiers pulled their triggers, causing a plume of smoke to exit their barrels. Accompanying the black smokescreen were copper jacketed lead projectiles which flew down range and into the bodies of the enemy soldiers who were blasted apart by the superior munitions.

The first wave of enemy soldiers fell down as quickly as the Japanese soldiers had pulled the triggers. In the next moment, the men racked back their bolts, and placed a spare cartridge into the chamber before slamming the bolt homes. After doing this, they raised the muzzles of their rifles once more and fired yet another volley, cutting down the second line of ashigaru like wheat to the scythe.

For every crackle of gunfire, hundreds of men were gunned down as they charged up the hillside, until none remained standing. Blood soaked the grass as it spilled from the horde of corpses. There were only a few hundred men left behind to defend the Mōri Clan, seeing as how they never expected Itami to intercept their message and counter their plan with an offensive of her own. With the enemy garrison dead, Itami gave the order to storm the castle.

"The Castle is free for the taking! I want the prisoners captured alive, and unharmed! You may only use force if the people resist! Go!"

With this, 5,000 men screamed their battle cry into the air as they charged through the undefended town and rushed towards the castle above.

"Tennōheika Banzai!"

Itami merely smirked in arrogance as she witnessed her soldiers rush towards their objective with bayonets affixed. A small portion remained behind on the hill above to protect both Itami and the artillery battery. The rest stormed into the town and secured its residents before moving onto the castle.

Once the citizens of the Mōri Clan's domain were bound and gagged, Itami descended the hillside and walked through the town, her sword dangling from her belt as she gazed upon the scene with an arrogant expression on her pretty face. The pathway to the castle had been secured, and she did not need to personally lift a finger.

After climbing the steps of the Castle, and going through the destroyed gatehouse, whose rubble had been cleared by her soldiers, Itami strode forth into the interior of the castle where soldiers stood at attention throughout its halls, saluting their Empress the moment she appeared before them. Itami simply nodded her head as she passed by before entering the great hall, where the family of Mōri Nobuhisa sat in fear. Like the villagers, they were bound and gagged.

Itami stared at the family of the Rebel leader with an overwhelming sense of cruelty in her eyes. She unsheathed her sword and smacked a boy who was at the cusp of adolescence on the top of his head with the pommel before cutting the cloth that was tied around his mouth. The boy immediately coughed after being released from his gag before staring at Itami with a look of defiance in his dark eyes. Itami did not wait for a response and merely asked him a simple question.

"Are you Mōri Nobuyuri?"

The boy did not meet the beautiful older woman's gaze, and merely blushed as he turned his head to the side. Itami smiled viciously as she spoke her words softly.

"I'll take that as a yes... You're coming with me boy, I wonder what is more important to your father, your life, or his petty rebellion."

A hint of fear formed in the child's eyes, but he could not struggle. Instead, Itami's soldiers carried him away, where she was left facing the rest of Mōri Nobuhisa's family. After several moments of contemplation, Itami gave her orders to the rest of her soldiers.

"Take them with us. If that old fool does not yield, then we will need more than one hostage. As for the castle... destroy it!"

With these orders given, the Imperial Japanese Army quickly withdrew from the village with their captives, and evacuated the area before shelling the castle. With each shell's detonation, another piece of the magnificent fortress crumbled to the ground until all the remained were smouldering ruins.

With the family of Mōri Nobuhisa captured, Itami intended to return with her army to her homeland, and use them as bargaining chips to force the rebel army to surrender to her. If they did so, she would claim the heads of the leaders of the rebelling clans. Then enforce her rule over all of mainland Japan. If they resisted, then Itami planned to kill Mōri Nobuhisa's entire family, and encircle his forces on the battlefield outside her family's domain. Either way, she would be victorious.