On the third day of the ninth lunar month, Jiang Chong looked at the rugged mountains in all directions and frowned. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Jiang Chong led the 3rd Regiment of the Trap Division to attack the hinterland of the Koshin-Etsu region of Japan, and found that this operation against thieves was not so easy.

As far as the eye can see, there is nothing on either side of the river except mountains, and there are nothing but dense mountain forests.

In fact, like the local princes of other regions, most of the Japanese daimyo in the Koshinetsu region had surrendered. Where there are roads, the Tiger Ben Army can be said to be invincible. The local Japanese princes who fought with the old-fashioned "iron cannons", that is, smoothbore arquebuses, could not stop the Tiger Army.

Jiang Chong's regiment went all the way north from Tokaido, Japan, and destroyed three local "daimyos" in ten days. At first, Jiang Chong still had some of the pleasure of conqueror, but then he didn't feel it at all.

On the one hand, it is because the strength of the Tiger Ben Army is too strong, and the local princes are too weak. On the other hand, the prince's military discipline was too strict, and Jiang Chong did not dare to let the soldiers burn and loot, so after capturing the castle, in addition to giving out some bonuses, there was not much excitement.

Most of the daimyo surrendered, except for a local prince called the Sanada family.

This prince called the Sanada family was originally a small prince, and according to the Japanese stone height system, the stone height of this prince was only 100,000 stone. Compared with the "Heavenly Domain" of the Tokugawa Shogunate's 4 million stones, the small princes of 100,000 stones should have been a negligible small role.

However, the Sanada family was extremely active at the juncture of Japan's demise.

The family abandoned Matsushiro Castle, where the feudal lord lived, and led 300 samurai to hide in the mountains of central Japan to resist Li Zhi's conquest.

Three hundred warriors are nothing, and they can't withstand a salvo from Jiang Chong's regiment. However, it was the leader of this group of samurai who was really in trouble. The head of the Sanada family who took the lead was called Sanada Nobuyuki, formerly known as Sanada Nobuyuki, and was a famous Japanese general.

The Sanada family rose in the last years of the Warring States period and was known for being good at defeating the strong with the weak. It is said that during the "Kamigawa War" of Japan's Sengoku period, the Sanada family relied on the terrain and castles to inflict heavy losses on the Tokugawa army, which was five times their size, with 1,500 men. After that war, Sanada Nobuyuki became famous all over the world.

At this time, Li Zhi swept Japan, and Sanada Nobuyuki was unwilling to accept the end of the family's demise and stood up to resist.

Samurai from all over Japan heard that Sanada Nobuyuki had organized a rebellion in the Koshinetsu mountains, and they flocked to the Koshinetsu region like a tidal wave. Some of the main families were destroyed by Li Zhi, and the samurai who turned into ronins entered the depths of the mountains, and did not want to be driven by Sanada Shinyuki. Even the samurai of the Tokugawa shogunate, who had been in the past, entered the mountains one after another.

Under the leadership of Sanada Nobuyuki, these samurai went into the mountains and became thieves, relying on force to extort food from the villagers in the mountains.

Li Zhi wanted to conquer Japan completely, and the samurai thieves in the Koshinetsu region were enemies that had to be faced.

Jiang Chong looked at the mountain in front of him and took a breath.

It is too easy to hide tens of thousands of people in this rolling mountain. Chiang Chong's troops were advancing along a small river, and there was some farmland in the valley of a few hundred meters beside the river, which provided a view for the riflemen. But as soon as you get away from the creeks and valleys, you are surrounded by dense forests.

Jiang Chong didn't dare to enter those forests, if he was ambushed by a samurai with superb sword skills in the forest, the casualties of the Tiger Ben army would probably be great.

Jiang Chong's regiment had 4,000 people, and he originally let 300 people out as scouts. At this time, he was afraid of being ambushed, so he sent two more people out to reconnoiter the terrain and the enemy.

Jiang Chong's 4,000 men have been deep in the Koshin-Etsu region for five days, and today they have entered the hinterland of Sanada Nobuyuki. It is said that it is not far from the base camp of Sanada Nobuyuki. Soon, the scouts in front discovered a small stronghold of the Sanada thieves.

"Report to the regimental commander, the road ahead will go around the halfway point of a hill, and there are more than a hundred samurai who have built a small stone fortress to defend it."

Jiang Chong asked, "Can a rifle kill the enemy in the fortress?" ”

The scout replied loudly: "Back to the regimental commander, the mountains and forests are very dense there, and the rifle cannot be deployed. But the mortar is estimated to be able to blow up. ”

Jiang Chong was stunned and asked, "Can you bypass the mountain and forest area?" ”

The scout replied, "I can't get around, it's all woods, and you have to go north into the woods." ”

Jiang Chong hesitated.

However, without taking this path, it is impossible to continue to suppress the thieves. Jiang Chong thought about it, but still said: "The whole army advances and sets up mortars under the mountainside." ”

The troops moved forward, leaving the valley and attacking the woods below the mountainside, where they saw the stone fortress on the mountainside.

However, before the mortar crew was deployed, the enemy appeared.

Two scouts rushed out of the woods: "Commander! Thousands of samurai have come around to the east, trying to take our back route! ”

This fortress is a trap, Sanada Nobuyuki is cheating!

Jiang Chong chuckled in his heart, gave up his plan to attack the enemy's fortress, and shouted loudly: "Retreat at full speed, retreat to the river valley to set up a formation!" ”

However, the soldiers had just taken a few steps when the scouts from the west also rushed back: "Commander, there are thousands of samurai from the west who have killed us and want to copy our back road." ”

Jiang Chong took a breath and shouted loudly: "Accelerate and retreat!" Retreat into the valley! ”

Fortunately, Jiang Chong's scouts were far enough away to grasp the situation within a radius of ten miles. Before the thieves and warriors cut off Jiang Chong's back road, Jiang Chong's 4,000 men managed to retreat to the foot of the mountain and return to the river valley.

However, Jiang Chong did not return to the wider part of the river valley, but encountered the samurai who ambushed him in a narrow part of the river valley that was only three hundred meters wide.

On both sides of the river valley were mountains and forests, and the Japanese samurai hid in the mountains and forests with their katanas, staring at Jiang Chong's four thousand infantry. Jiang Chong's men and horses crowded a few dozen meters to the east of the river, and pulled it into a 100-meter long strip along the river.

If the samurai charged at Jiang Chong's soldiers from the mountains and forests, they would only need to rush a hundred meters to engage in hand-to-hand combat. The warriors in the mountains and forests stared at Jiang Chong's soldiers like wolves. Obviously, they were prepared to leave Jiang Chong's 4,000 men in the narrow area of the river valley forever.

Jiang Chong looked at the more and more warriors in the mountains and forests, frowned, and shouted loudly: "Step phalanx, two thousand Jinwang style arrangement to the periphery!" ”

The trained soldiers adjusted their formation and formed a hollow phalanx more than 80 meters long and wide. Soldiers armed with new rifles walked to the outskirts of the woods to face the Japanese samurai in the woods.

As a force that invaded the most dangerous place, Li Zhi gave Jiang 2,000 Jinwang style this time. These 2,000 new rifles were the fundamental reason for Jiang Chong to dare to go deep into the mountains and forests.

Jiang Chong's soldiers set up a phalanx, and the warriors in the mountains and forests also completed the assembly, and the battle was about to break out.

There was a deathly silence on the battlefield.

Eventually, the eerie silence was broken by an old roar.

"Get out of Japan!"

The voice echoed back and forth in the valley, full of grief and desolation.

With this roar, the Japanese samurai began to charge.

When the warriors rushed out, Jiang Chong understood where were the thousands of people? At least 20,000 samurai surrounded him.

The samurai who had lost their master's family looked a little depressed at this time, and they did not wear ornate armor in the mountains and forests. The hair that should have been pulled up high was also tied at random behind the head, and it was no longer as decent as it used to be as a ruling class.

Their faces are filled with despair and anger that have left no way, and the resulting death-defying home.

Katana swords aloft, they rushed out of the mountain forest like ants and rushed towards the valley of the small river guarded by the Tsu-style rifles.