“To the left wing,” cried Mori to Oguri.
Oguri placed himself to the left of the centre, while Mori took the right. Still in one compactly joined front, the infantry advanced.
“Now, now,” moaned Oguri. “Toro—where is Toro?”
As the line advanced, the artillery, having reloaded, bore down again upon the enemy’s centre, pounding it.
The infantry neared the bakufu. Mori despatched an officer to silence the batteries.
Now was the crucial moment. Broken and scattered like a herd of untrained cattle was the bakufu’s centre.
A cheer sounded in the enemy’s rear. Just at the proper moment Toro’s cavalry charged the rear, dashing through the centre.
Now a movement of division took place in the forces of Mori. Oguri’s left divided on the centre and swung to the west, while Mori’s right swung eastward. The artillery became two corps, one for each of the divisions; the cavalry, divided, also followed the direction of the two leaders.
Mori’s forces had sundered the centre of the bakufu and were rolling up on either side, driving in two opposite directions the immense army of the shogunate.
As panic and fear spread through the poor-spirited forces of the bakufu, the cavalry withdrew to pursue fugitives. Mori’s infantry in its two divisions was now sufficient for the isolating and destroying of the two segments of the enemy.