In addition, whether it is Shibata or Sakuma, it seems that in the past, they were sincerely attached to the Takayama family, and now that Nobunaga is dead, these two families and Uesugi are afraid that they will directly become the ministers of the Takayama family, and the most important thing is that the strength of the Takayama clan itself has exceeded the total strength of these people, so it can be said that the rule of the Takayama family in the eastern country is difficult to shake, and the family will definitely not take any advantage against such a force.

And Kinoshita Hideyoshi certainly does not plan to have a decisive battle with the Takayama family this time, after all, the family is not ready for a full-scale war at all, and even the preparation is not as good as the Takayama family, it is not an advantage, and the other party is not fully prepared, if it is a decisive battle, the result can be imagined, of course, not a decisive battle, does not mean that there is no local war, after all, Owari and Mino are too important, so these two countries must be won. And once he captures these two countries before the arrival of the Takayama army, then the other party is not expected to start a full-scale war against him, so that he will have enough time to develop, as long as he controls the Kai Town and has a steady stream of funds, then the Takayama family is nothing.

The reason why the opponent's army is so powerful is not because the opponent is armed to the teeth even if the ordinary ashigaru is armed, once the ashigaru under his command can do this, then it is not difficult to defeat or even destroy Takayama at all.

Thinking of this, Kinoshita Hideyoshi immediately continued to make arrangements, and after ordering Kato Kiyomasa to be the main attacker, he ordered the former Uki family retainers, and now Nagafune Sadako, who has become a direct minister of the Kinoshita family, to lead 3,000 spears and ashigaru to assist him in attacking from the front.

Although Kinoshita Hideyoshi was already dissatisfied with him, it was time to employ people, so he could only put aside these subtleties for the time being, adopted the other party's suggestion, and ordered Takigawa Kazuyi to lead his 5,000 troops to attack from behind Gifu Castle.

Gifu Castle was, after all, the original castle of the Oda family, and not only was the castle easy to defend but difficult to attack, and there were countless bows and arrows and rolling wood and stones in the castle, and it took the defenders of the castle three days just to move these things from the warehouse to the city walls, so you can imagine what kind of resistance the Kinoshita army would face.

When Kato Kiyomasa led a thousand banners under his command of Ashigaru and a part of the army under the command of Nagafune Sadakin, to a distance of about fifty meters outside the city, and was about to charge, their command of Ashigaru did not rush forward two steps, and the two thousand troops that had already been prepared in the city, under the order of the samurai, picked up their bows and arrows, and saw the arrows in the sky galloping towards the enemy outside the city, of course, this is only a covering attack, which has required speed, but there is no big requirement for accuracy, anyway, a rain of arrows falls, and it can also cause a lot of damage to the enemy,And this is also a helpless thing.,The defenders in the city are not the heavy wisteria archery team of the Takayama family.,They are a professional ashigaru after completing and separating.,Although in daily training,Bow is also an essential training item.,But after all, it's just an auxiliary.,More time is to practice the gun formation.,This is because the Oda family thinks that if there is only the object of the Oda family's attack today.,There's no longer a force that can make the family in a passive defense.,Even Nobutaka is unswerving on this point of view.,So these ashigaru can pull the bow, It's not easy to shoot an arrow.

Of course, although the accuracy is not satisfactory, the speed of shooting is still very fast, and there is no need to aim anyway, after shooting an arrow, continue to shoot, there is nothing to hesitate at all.

It's just that the bows and arrows in the hands of these ashigaru hands are not strong bows such as heavy wisteria bows, but just ordinary longbows, although the shooting has reached sixty or seventy meters, but if you want to cause damage to the other party, you have to wait for the other party to approach a distance of thirty or forty meters, and this is still a kill caused to the general ashigaru, like the Kinoshita family's thousand Qimoto Ashigaru teams that have been armed to the teeth, if it is not too unlucky, this kind of bow and arrow cannot penetrate the armor on their bodies at all, so don't look at the rain of arrows on the city wall wave after wave, But the enemy advanced to a distance of about thirty meters in an instant. Most of the casualties were the troops under the command of Nagafune Sadakin, and only a few unlucky ghosts under Kato Kiyomasa were shot in the feet or arms by the rain of arrows, and in general, the enemy advanced twenty meters, but there were no big casualties.

Of course, when the Kinoshita army outside the city entered the 30-meter range, the casualties caused by the bow and arrow began to increase greatly, and even the flag of the flag Ashigaru began to be shot by the piercing armor one after another.

And not only that, Nobunaga's emphasis on iron cannons is famous, and his attention has also affected Nobutada, and this Gifu City is the main city of Nobutaka, in addition to a large number of bows and arrows in the city, rolling wood and stones, iron cannons are of course indispensable, and the number has reached three hundred, don't look at this number can not be compared with Takayama or Nobunaga's iron artillery team, but it is enough for the defense of Gifu City, after all, Gifu City can really let the two armies contact the place is still very small, And if the three hundred iron cannons were all placed on the contact surface of the two armies, they would never inflict any less damage on the enemy than the bow and arrow. Especially against the thousand-banner Honsagaru who are armed to the teeth, the bow and arrow will cause only a limited amount of damage to them, and these iron cannons are definitely their nemesis.

Kato Kiyomasa led a thousand troops to rush to the front, after all, this time the lord has made it very clear that the army under his command will be used as the main attack, so it is impossible for him to let the longship run in front of him in the back, and after a few rounds of arrow rain just now, he was immediately relieved, and then he remembered that the other party is not the mountain army, but the army under the command of Xinzhong, if you face the mountain army, then you can still make yourself a little worried, then in the face of the army of Xinzhong, It's completely unnecessary to be yourself, first of all, equipping your own command is much stronger than the other party, and secondly, combat experience, not to mention that the other party is comparable, in this case, what else is there to worry about.

After having such an idea, Kato Kiyomasa immediately ordered his troops to speed up, and strive to rush to the city before the enemy changed defenses.

But the idea is good, but the reality is not so, when Kato Kiyomasa just gave the order to speed up, only to hear the deafening sound of iron cannons one after another, and with the sound of iron cannons, the armor on the flag ashigaru team finally couldn't be stopped, more than 20 flag ashigaru was shot and immediately fell, in a salvo only hit more than 20 enemies, and at such a close distance, such a record is not very worthy of boasting, but if this is only the result of a hundred iron cannons, it is already good, That's right, the ashigaru at the head of the castle uses three-stage shooting, and this is enough to prove that these iron cannon ashigaru are well-trained, after all, the reloading of iron cannons after firing is still very cumbersome, and it can achieve uninterrupted shooting, which is enough to prove that no one is indiscriminate.

That is, the Takenaka Hanbei did not know what their ability was, and if the firing distance was extended to a distance of fifty meters, then they would be able to inflict greater damage on the enemy even if they fired a few more rounds.

When the sound of the iron cannon sounded, the Qimoto Ashigaru team who rushed to the front was only slightly stunned, and then recovered its state, the iron cannon has been transmitted here for decades, and now this heavy weapon is not a rare thing at all in the eyes of the samurai and ashigaru, and they also know that no matter how thick the armor on the body is, it can't stop the projectile shot by the iron cannon at all, as long as it is shot, the best result is also injury, but they also know that the hit rate of the iron cannon is really a little low, and the hit rate can exceed two achievements is already considered a marksman, So the iron cannon is no longer as deterrent as it used to be.

Especially the Kinoshita family's Thousand Banners Honashigaru Team, which was formed after the Takayama Family's Banner Honsamurai Team, and they haven't seen anything before, and this little thing is not taken into their eyes at all.

Therefore, the iron cannon only allowed them to pause slightly, and there was no possibility of blocking them at all, so although it was a three-stage non-stop fire, it also caused more than 100 casualties to the opponent, but it still allowed Kinoshita's army to rush to the city.

And when Kinoshita's army arrived in the city, whether it was an iron cannon or a bow and arrow, Ashigaru immediately threw away the weapons in his hand, yes, he threw them away, in order to save more time, they didn't do it as slowly as usual, Uncle Gengong handled it lightly, although the iron cannon was valuable, but after all, this was public, and the little life was their own, which they knew very clearly.

And when the weapons in their hands were thrown behind them, without waiting for the order of the samurai commanding on the city wall, each of them picked up the largest piece from the rolling log stone that was neatly stacked next to him, nearly a man high.

The enemy is getting closer and closer, not only the Kinoshita family's Flag Ashashi rushed over, but even the three thousand people under the command of Nagafune Sadakin, there are hundreds of people who broke away from the brigade of thousands of people and rushed over at a faster speed, and even when the defenders of the castle just threw away the weapons in their hands, they had slightly surpassed the Flag Honashigaru team, of course, they were not hot-headed and rushed up to die, but they had to do it, because they were not only people coming again, but they also carried a long ladder made of bamboo on their shoulders.

Originally, it was not easy for Japan to attack the city in this era, often a small fortress, dozens of hundreds of defenders could block several times or even more enemy attacks, and it took advantage of holding on in the city, but since the Takayama clan used a cloud ladder when helping the Sakuma family capture Tanba, this siege weapon was immediately valued by Kuroda Kanwei, who originally wanted to attack the city, especially attacking a strong city, in addition to filling it with human lives, the method was simply pitiful, so most of the time it was a siege, so as to hit the morale of the other party, And cut off the other party's supply, and so the other party can't hold on, the city will naturally be captured, and if the other party is a water city or there is a river around it, then you can also take water to flood the city, and the rest is some siege methods that require professionals to complete such as ninja stealing the city, as for fire attack, it sounds very good, but in this era there is basically no one to use, after all, the defenders are not fools, they know that the fire attack is powerful, so all the built cities, the city walls and gates will be painted with mud and other things, The more wooden the structure, the thicker the mud on it, so it is very unrealistic to basically want to use fire to capture the castle, unless you can attack the city, and then use fire to burn the castle tower, after all, for the sake of beauty, the castle tower is basically not mud, but if even the city wall can be attacked, then you still need to use fire to attack the castle tower, after all, the war is for profit, if the city is burned to ashes, then there is a fart benefit, so this extreme way of attack, unless the hatred has reached the point of not sharing the sky, few people use it.

In the blink of an eye, the ashigaru carrying the ladder had already arrived at the castle, but when they were just about to erect it, the samurai in charge of the command of the city immediately gave an order, only to see countless stones, wooden segments were thrown from the city, Inabayama Castle is one of the few fortified castles, the city walls are not only thick, this height is definitely among the best, especially after being reinforced by Nobunaga again, needless to say, the stones are needless to say, even the broken wood is thrown down from such a high place, not to mention these ordinary ashigaru, even if it is the flag of the helmet armor Ashigaru was hit, The same will kill Huangquan.

After throwing the rolling wood stone in his hand, the defenders on the city picked up a piece as fast as possible and continued to throw it down, and the pressure of the city's attack was greater, and in an instant, there were dozens of people who could be directly hit, and they definitely couldn't live, and this is not counting, those who were lucky not to be hit, and some of them died under the second wave of rolling wood stones, and most importantly, because the city Ashigaru attack rhythm was tight, so the ladder could not be erected. And there are already some ashigaru who have begun to throw away the ladder in their hands and begin to retreat, as long as the ladder is thrown to the ground, then there is no possibility of picking it up again.

And people are like this, if no one retreats, then they can hold their breath and continue to do it, but once someone withdraws first, then this breath will be unloaded, and sure enough, when one person retreats, more people are no longer stupid to die.

Of course, they retreating does not mean that they can save their lives, Kato Kiyomasa received a death order this time, and now he has just encountered a little difficulty, so he will retreat, so let alone three days, even if it is three years, it is impossible to break through Gifu Castle, so he made a quick decision, and did not discuss with Nagafune Sadakin, and slashed the ashigaru who ran in front with a knife.

"Listen to me, if anyone dares to take a step back, this person is an example." Kato Kiyomasa wiped the blood from the knife again and again, and roared again.

Kato Kiyomasa's prestige is still very useful in the Kinoshita family, especially the flag of nearly a thousand helmets and armor standing behind him, these Ashigaru who want to retreat are not fools, even if the other party beheads himself like this, I'm afraid that Lord Nagafune won't say anything, so instead of dying now, it's really better to continue the attack, maybe if you're lucky, not only can you die, but you can also make meritorious contributions. (To be continued.) )