Stone Ridge, stationed here is Tachibana Muneshige, is a very capable subordinate of Kobayakawa Takakei, who can fight well. Of course, Tachibana Muneshige is not most famous for this, but for the wife he married.

Tachibana Soshige's wife is the famous Tachibana Yan Chiyo, known as Tachibana early hit girl.

Under Tachibana Chiyo there was a special unit, all of them made up of women, and each of them was very good at using iron cannons, that is, arquebuses.

Of course, Tachibana Chiyo put gunpowder and marbles in a bamboo tube and carried them with him.

During the battle, the elixir in the bamboo tube was poured directly into the musket, which greatly increased the rate of fire. In a way, this is an early type of fixed ammunition.

It's just that the fate of Tachibana Chiyo was not very good, and the Tachibana family, which was guarded wholeheartedly, was destroyed, and she and her husband separated and died in depression.

After the end of the Korean War, Toyotomi Hideyoshi fell ill and died, and the Battle of Sekigahara broke out in Japan. Tachibana Muneshige sided with the Eastern Army and was defeated by Tokugawa Ieyasu of the Western Army.

Although Tomi and Kato's men were saved in the end, the Tachibana family was gone.

What is the status of Soshige Tachibana in the Tachibana family? To put it bluntly, he is a son-in-law who comes to the door, and he is not surnamed Tachibana, but after marrying Tachibana Yan Chiyo, he changed his name to Tachibana Somao.

Although he nominally inherited the Tachibana family, but in reality? The Tachibana family is still his wife, Tachibana Yan Chiyo.

If it's just a son-in-law, Tachibana Somao is not, and he doesn't want to live in the shadow of his wife for the rest of his life, then the contradictions between husband and wife will naturally break out.

Tachibana Chiyo has always been cultivated as the successor of the Hana family, so naturally he will not hand over the Tachibana family to Tachibana Soshige.

Because once you do that, the final result may be that the Tachibana family will directly change their surname, and I'm afraid I won't be able to live, which is absolutely unacceptable to Tachibana Chiyo. If you want to defeat your wife from the inside, you can't help it, so you can only look for support from the outside.

So Tachibana Muneshige chose Kobayakawa Takakei, and Tachibana Munege recognized Kobayakawa Takakei as his father-in-law and married Kobayakawa Hidebo as a brother-in-law, which gave him a very strong backer.

Over the years, the power of Tachibana Muneshige has increased greatly in the Tachibana family, and this time in the Korean War, Tachibana Soshige made a big decision. You must make meritorious service, and you must make great contributions, and you must let your wife take a look.

With this in mind, Tachibana Muneshige directly asked Kobayakawa Takakei for his order to ambush him at the Gravel Ridge.

In Tachibana Muneshige's view, this time is the time for him to make a great contribution. Yukinaga Konishi of the First Army and Nagamasa Kuroda of the Third Army were not only defeated, but also captured.

Kiyomasa Kato of the Second Legion died directly in battle, and this is the time to show himself.

On the side of Tachibana Muneshige, his two elders, Morishita Fishing Cloud and Ten Season, Tsuyama Mamoru all had serious faces, although before coming to the Stone Ridge, Kobayakawa Takakei once said that "the three thousand soldiers of the Tachibana family are enough to resist the 10,000 enemy troops of his family", but at Ten Hour, Yama Mori and Morishita Fishing Cloud were not so confident.

After all, whether it's Yukinaga Konishi or Kiyomasa Kato, they are all very capable existences!

But at this time, the two of them naturally won't say anything discouraged, and this battle is inevitable.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Ming army appeared below the Stone Ridge, and the number of people was not very large, probably more than 10,000. The Ming army did not seem to be in a hurry to attack, but camped at the foot of the mountain.

In the camp, Zhang Weixian looked at Cao Wenzhao and He Renlong, and said, "Do you know why I transferred you over?" ”

Cao Wenzhao and He Renlong nodded together, their faces were as serious.

This battle of Stone Ridge is a tough battle, and it is also a bottom-up battle, and this kind of battle is very difficult to fight. During the attack on Pyongyang, Cao Wenzhao and He Renlong's troops made great contributions.

The first one broke through the city of Pyongyang, and also defeated the Japanese and captured the Japanese generals alive.

"I'm doing this to let you know that this commander has clear rewards and punishments, and he won't be harsh because you are not from a noble background, and I won't take care of others because they are from a noble background."

"You have proved that you can fight, then give you the opportunity to make meritorious contributions."

"If they want to take the opportunity to attack, if they want to get the opportunity to make a contribution, then they have to perform. At the same time, this is also a test for you, this battle, if you fight well, you will naturally be able to make the first contribution. ”

"If you don't fight well, the credit you got in front of you will be called luck, so this battle is a test for you."

Cao Wenzhao and He Renlong glanced at each other, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Dashuai, we will definitely not let you down." ”

Nodding, Zhang Weixian said with a smile: "How to attack, how to fight, Ben Shuai won't say much, these royal martial arts halls have been taught, tomorrow morning to start attacking the Stone Ridge, I will look at you." ”

Night.

Tachibana Soshige was on the Stone Ridge, and the Ming army was at the bottom of the mountain, but the two sides seemed to be at peace, and Tachibana Somo had no intention of going down the mountain to attack at night, and put on a posture of sticking to the mountain.

The Ming army also had no intention of attacking at night, and the two sides maintained calm on this night.

However, Tachibana Somao still sent people back to ask for help, and the Ming army's brigade arrived, and they were going to fight the Stone Ridge. Everyone knows that it is more appropriate to fight the Ming Dynasty here than to retreat to Seoul with a large army.

At dawn the next day, Da Ming still had no intention of attacking, but began to send scouts to check around.

Cao Wenzhao and He Renlong also dispatched, and for a morning the Ming army was looking around, and at noon, the Ming army finally made a move. Countless artillery pieces were carried out of the camp and headed in all directions.

Inside the big tent, Cao Wenzhao and He Renlong were reporting to Zhang Weixian.

"Marshal, we have selected four artillery positions."

"Artillery positions were built in turn, arranged in echelons to ensure the coverage and extension of artillery fire, and the position of the Japanese formation on the Stone Ridge was within the firing range of our two artillery positions."

This era is no more important for the army than during World War II.

Later generations guarded the hillside, but dug trenches and drew a long line to defend them, and they could shoot in the trenches. If you don't form a formation in this era, once the opponent rushes up, you can't launch a counter-charge.

With the rate of fire of the arquebus, it was simply impossible to withstand a massive charge.

Even if Tachibana Somao is on the mountain, even if he has two thousand iron gunners, it still can't work. Because the arquebus fire rate is slow, it cannot shoot accurately, and it needs to rely on platoon guns to cover and kill the enemy.

Give you an arquebus, let you aim and shoot you can't even shoot, its trajectory is erratic, and it is meaningless without an array.

This is unavoidable, and there are very few cannons that have been used to compensate for this shortcoming.