At noon on June 19, 1578, the 27,000-strong army of the Miyoshi family came to the city that originally belonged to them. They approached from the northwestern mountains in a very narrow formation to avoid possible shelling from the fleet on the sea.

Originally, the number of people could have been more, but there was a serious disagreement about the high-level Miyoshi in this battle, and Miyoshi Yoshitsugu and most of the local wealthy families were opposed, but Shinohara's Nagabo and the "small three" insisted. Shinohara Nagabo, who has always been difficult to deal with, and the "small three" are unprecedentedly unanimous this time, and it is said that the grumpy Tokawa Deposit Insurance even slapped the table at the Supreme Joint Meeting, and the decision to send troops was the result of such a strong subduation. However, there are still people who don't buy it, and the lord of Tianwu City, Kagawa Yuanjing, didn't come, but it is the current enemy that hardliners are not easy to force people too much.

Because the terrain was so narrow, I only arranged 6,000 ashigaru of Ko'er Sezo and Yamanaka Kanosuke under the castle, arranged on the left and right flanks, and 200 armor cavalry of Shinhachiro hid in the castle gate hole, and Joseph's 500 Cossack light cavalry ambushed in a low-lying grove not far away. I myself didn't go out at all, and the cannons in the garrison under Tsuda's command were also displayed at the head of the castle, but the iron cannon Ashigaru had already dispersed to the front.

"They're so cautious!" Looking at the Miyoshi troops who stopped not far from the camp in the distance, I smiled helplessly.

"There's no way around it, our cannons are putting too much psychological pressure on them!" Takenaka Hanbei stood beside me, his expression extremely relaxed. "According to the ninja's information, their battle meeting was late last night, and it has been noisy! Now I even suspect that before we can launch it, a significant number of the Miyoshi tribe will flee without a fight. ”

"So you must not attack in a hurry, otherwise you won't be able to create enough psychological deterrence this time!" My hand lightly pounded the bricks on the battlements of the city wall, and I felt a sense of relief. Now that everything is going according to my plan, the game is so simple.

"What the lord said is very true!" Hanbei Takenaka nodded solemnly. "It's not a problem to beat the main force of the Miyoshi family, in fact, it doesn't even have to be considered now. However, Shikoku had many small but dangerous castles, most of which were now in the hands of small local tycoons. If they can't beat their confidence in Miyoshi at once this time, it will be a very troublesome thing in the future! ”

"Then don't let the cannons come on the field yet, wait for them to put on a show!" I looked at the jumble of flags in the distance, and they were already waving. "Go and call a math!" I instructed Sakurai Sakichi, who happened to be standing next to me.

"My lord, what do you command?" When he heard me call Tsuda Kazusu, he immediately rushed over, and in fact he was not far away. Now the grassroots command force of the iron artillery reserve is quite mature, so under normal circumstances, he is only with the artillery array.

"If fire cover is implemented on the plains ahead, then how lethal can it be?" I pointed to the long, wide plain in front of the Ashigaru army at the bottom of the hill.

"If there are only five or six thousand people scattered in such an area, I'm afraid it's a bit more than worth the loss!" He closed one eye and took a brief measurement. "But if all the more than 30,000 enemy troops come to attack and swarm up, then the end will be sure that three platoons of artillery will defeat all the formations of the Sanhao Army!"

"That's a big job!" I'm a little embarrassed, because it's never been easy to make a coward a warrior.

"Tut, toot, toot......" Just as I was thinking about it, the Miyoshi army on the opposite side finally decided not to wait any longer. Amid the sound of a rapid conch, five thousand troops began to attack our infantry array below the city. Although this is a force composed of ashigaru as the main body, the number of professional light armored pikemen has reached about half, and there are more than 100 cavalry mixed in.

"Whose troops are this, it makes sense!" I pointed in that direction with my hand.

"It should be the troops of the Ten Rivers Deposit, and the combat effectiveness is strong among the three good generals!" Takenaka Hanbei swept his eyes and came up with the answer, which is the basic quality of a military advisor and a necessary homework. "Although Shihe Depository is not the biological flesh and blood of Shihe Yicun, it is said to have inherited his courage and irritability. He rarely thinks about the consequences in the use of troops, so in several wars against the Changzong family, he took the initiative to take the lead, although he is young, but now he has a good reputation in Shikoku! ”

"What a bull!" I couldn't help but smile as I watched the troops of the Ten Rivers Reservoir break away from their own camp and begin to attack. They were clearly a test stone, and there were no other troops behind them to follow up.

In order to avoid the possibility of being flanked from both sides, the Ten Rivers attacking force made a slight turn before approaching, avoiding the side of Yamanaka Shikanosuke and began to make contact with Kor Caizo alone. After being placed by the iron cannons of the front row of 100 people, the front rows of both sides began to stab each other with spears.

"The iron artillery team in front did a good job, neither scaring the enemy away nor looking too fake!" After complimenting Tsuda on the score, I said to Takenaka Hanbei, "Although it is not the first time that the Miyoshi family has fought against us, there are some new faces with the fall of the 'Three People'. Even if it is Miyoshi Yoshiji, an old enemy, I am afraid that I can't say what our troops are like. So the first impression is very important, will this frizzy guy be misguided? ”

"Don't worry about the lord, Lord Ke'er can be regarded as a famous general who has followed the lord for many years!" The half-guard in Takenaka was full of confidence, as if he had completely forgotten the troubles that Ke'er had hidden before. "I've checked all of you with all of you about the idea of this battle, so there's no way there can be any more problems. In addition, now that both sides have not developed their real strength, it is impossible for anything to stimulate him! ”

"I hope it's just as you say!" I turned my attention back again.

The battle between the two sides continued in an orderly manner, not even fiercely, with the soldiers in the front row stabbing each other with spears and the soldiers in the back row standing still. Due to the length and toughness of the gun, the Ten Rivers soldiers have a better chance of being stabbed, and because of the thickness of the armor, my soldiers are less likely to be injured, but that's about it. There is no tragic life-and-death struggle, and even the degree of change in the formation is not large, so that those who have not intended to pass by seem to be grinding foreign workers on both sides!

"This doesn't look very good, it seems to be a little warm!" I looked at the scene below and began to brush up the mustache that had just grown for a short time. A few of them thought I was very handsome, and I thought it was more imposing.

"It seems that they are still not very reassured, they need to find something to stimulate them!" Takenaka Hanbei apparently didn't expect progress to be so slow.

His words struck me. "Shigeji, how many binoculars do you think they will have?" I asked.

"There must be quite a few!" Even so, he himself was not completely sure, but subjectively analyzed: "Kyushu and Shikoku had earlier and more frequent contact with Nanban than Sakai Town, and this kind of thing should not be very new." Lord, why do you ask this? ”

"Maybe we should be considerate of their anxious feelings!" I looked at the few people who were following closely and chose the warbler. "You go for a run! Go to the castle tower and tell Mrs. Okamoto: Shinohara-sama and the three sons are here, and if she wants, she can come out in person to see if I told the truth the other day. Today's sun is a little poisonous, remember to put a cloud cover on Mrs. Gangben after going to the verandah! ”

"What a whimsical idea, my lord!" After the warbler left, Takenaka Hanbei said to me with a smile.

"It's also heart-to-heart!" I replied with the same smile. Strange to say, I don't have much of a sense of disgust in my heart for this matter, although it is indeed a conspiracy. But even if I hadn't done so, this political bloc, which was already on the verge of collapse, would still have come to this point, and this is an inevitable trend of history. "Now it's up to them to take the bait!" I'm really not worried.

Soon after, the Ten Rivers Deposit and Protection Department really became excited, and the ashigaru began to play with their lives under the supervision of the samurai, and the troops of the Miyoshi main formation in the distance were also restless, but there was still no one else to replenish them. Ke'er Caizang's troops retreated slightly and "wavered", and when I looked back, I saw a striking vermilion cloud umbrella.

"Is the smell of such a conspiracy too strong?" Takenaka Hanbei said suddenly. "Lord, you see, most of the other party's men and horses are still holding a wait-and-see attitude, which shows that they are still suspicious of our combat strength. Although this reason makes logical sense in order to prevent the other party's main army in the mountains not to support, it still makes people feel like they can't figure it out! ”

"What do you think should be done?" I also vaguely felt this situation, so I humbly asked for advice.

"Maybe we should use a 'trick' to break up this attack!" After observing the opponent's position again, he said: "Our army will not bring a lot of cavalry this time, and the other party should have a concept of this point or reconnaissance or guess, so they will put on this formation in the attack regardless of the cavalry raid. If we send dozens of cavalry to storm the main formation of the Ten Rivers Department from the flank, then it will seem that we don't have much capital in our hands, and we look like we are holding on to help! ”

"Makes sense!" I nodded and asked, "Do you think you should send the Cossacks, or let Shinhachiro show his face?" ”

"It's not good!" He shook his head and said, "The deterrent effect of these two types of cavalry is too great, and it is likely to scare them back." I don't think it's as good as dispatching the lord's lightly armed flag book, dozens of people will do! ”

"Then ...... You take someone on a trip! My finger pointed at Ah Xue. Take 50 banners and attack the horse seals of the Ten Rivers Depository from the flank, as long as you can scare them away! ”

"Yes!" Ah Xue excitedly replied, she hadn't gotten such an opportunity for a long time.

"Lord...... It doesn't have to be that way, right? Although this suggestion was made by himself, at the moment Takenaka Hanbei was a little hesitant.

"The appearance of Ji Samurai in front of the formation can stimulate the nerves of those people in the Miyoshi family even more!" I also instructed Goto Matabei, Ishikawa Sadatomo, Sakurai Sakichi, and Iki Hanshichi, "You four go too!" ”