In the early morning of August 12, 1574, the light rain that had been falling for half a day and overnight finally stopped, and the air was filled with a fresh and humid atmosphere. As it was still cloudy to cloudy, the eastern sky did not show the face of the sun, but only turned blue and white where it should have been.

According to the reports of the Tanma and ninja who were constantly shuttling back and forth, the Takeda army was still some distance away, and I crossed the forward position under the cover of the Konoe bannermen and came to the bank of the Renzi River. Out of Kato Duanzo's caution, there is a large circle of ninjas in the outer and distant distances, either light or dark.

I have to admire Oda Nobunaga's perseverance, and in the face of the sudden bad weather, he still forced the army to set up Rakuhara as originally planned. I have to say that even I have doubts in the face of this situation, after all, history has changed in many places, what if the rain continues? At that time, even my iron cannon that fires special paper-wrapped bullets will become a pile of waste! I was really surprised when the rain stopped, it seems that Oda Nobunaga has a very good relationship with the gods who manage the rain, and it stops when it should stop, and it goes down when it should be stopped, as was the case in the time of the barrel Sasama. I wanted to ask him about the joints, but I felt that his mood had been unstable recently.

The topography of Shirakuhara resembles a slanted funnel, high in the east and low in the west, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. The official road that runs from the direction of Suruga has a fork in the road, and you can reach the east bank of the Renshi River by going down a downhill of about 200 zhang long, and the width of the downhill is only about 60 zhang because of the hills covered with dense forests on both sides. After crossing the river, where we are now arrayed, is a relatively vast semi-hilly plain, and by this point the battle line on Oda's side has expanded to three hundred zhang wide. The angle of the slope is about 30 degrees stronger, which is the most favorable terrain for cavalry.

Sixty zhang, a distance of nearly two hundred meters, it stands to reason that it is not too narrow, but the formation of tens of thousands of people and the charge of thousands of people are really stretched. Limiting the numerical superiority of the Oda army with narrow terrain, and then concentrating the elite cavalry corps to launch an attack, maybe Takeda Katsuyori really thinks so! At least Oda Nobunaga was confident, others were not too optimistic, but even if the Takeda Army did come here to win, it was still a difficult thing to predict.

Because my iron artillery team was relatively strong, I was placed on the left side of the frontal battlefield; In the center is Oda Nobunaga's Gibu Corps, but his first-line iron artillery team is protected by Takigawa Kazuki; On the right, that is, the downstream of the Lianzi River, it was handed over to Tokugawa Ieyasu's Mikawa troops; Hashiba Hideyoshi protected my flank flank further to my right, so that the frontal line was less than ten feet; Behind them are Niwa Nagahide's 1,500 people; Shibata served as the main reserve and was responsible for the overall defense behind the large army.

I put my hand in the water, the rainy weather made the water a little cold. Although it rained, it wasn't heavy, not to mention that the water didn't rise, and it didn't even make much muddy, Honda Masanobu was not wrong, and even the deepest part of the Zichuan River was only about a foot. I took a deep breath of the morning air, and a smell of plants and trees with a strong feeling of moisture immediately filled my nasal cavity, "Alas......" I sighed slightly. Last night's rain still had an impact, and it had a serious impact on the more than 3,000 open arquebuses of the Oda Army that were exposed to the air. I expect that one in five to six will not be played by then, and that number will increase after the fierce encounters.

I turned and walked towards the camp, and Sakurai Sakichi took a few steps to make sure the gangplank above the trench was solid. The group crossed the trench and entered the reserved gap of the antlers and fence, and the soldiers guarding immediately blocked the gap, holding spears and looking in the direction of the official road on the opposite bank. This is the embodiment of quality, although I have hardly slept all night, I am still full of energy.

After a night of intense toil, three defensive fronts were finally built, and even I myself had been personally inspecting them. The construction of the trenches and fences even exceeded the standards required by Oda Nobunaga, and the two sides fought for their lives, so they did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

After passing through nearly two hundred meters of forward depth in a row, I returned to the central core of my camp. In the open space around my tent, there were more than a hundred smaller tents. Philip and his 500 men were resting inside, the only troops they had been allowed to sleep last night.

"Why did the lord go out early in the morning? You should take the time to rest more! "As soon as I entered the big tent, I saw Takenaka Hanbei and Gamo Fuxiu.

"It's not a big problem, I just want to see how ready it is!" I took off my helmet and took it from the guards, and Ayuki bent down to untie my saber for me, sat down and waved for them to sit down. Since the Takeda Army was still in the camp in Kiyoi Tahara, I asked the tired soldiers to hurry up and rest for a while, except for the sentry posts, of course, and they were all wearing armor and holding weapons. "You should sleep for a while, and it's up to you to command the battle!" Both of them had eyes similar to rabbits at the moment, especially Takenaka Hanbei, who began to pant slightly even though he was sitting.

"It's all the incompetence of the ministers, and the lord wants to suffer such a hard work!" Hanbei Takenaka said guiltily.

"I have to do everything for you, isn't it too easy for me, the lord?" I laughed and nodded, motioning for Ah Xue to prepare breakfast. "What's the news from the lord?" I saw that Gamo Fuxiu was holding a large pile of folds in his hands.

"The situation in the main camp is normal, but repeated orders have been issued to be careful everywhere!" Gamo Fuxiu held the fold in both hands and put it in front of me. “…… Although the Takeda Army has not sent troops so far, there has been a troop movement in the camp half an hour ago! Its ninjas and scouts were active throughout the night, and there were several skirmishes with our men, with little to lose on either side. Of course, the people of Tokugawa and other highnesses are not idle! ”

"Hmm......" I nodded, and this was not unexpected. Fuxiu, this time you will enter the front line as the starting general, are you confident? Looking at the young man in front of me, who was less than 20 years old, I suddenly remembered myself 10 years ago. This time, my battle line is not too long, it is only about 60 zhang, and 500 spears with him should be enough! Besides, there was Philip's 500 iron artillery team there, there were so many people that it could not be stretched between the first fence and the second trench.

"This?! His Royal Highness ......" Gamo Fuxiu first opened his mouth wide in shock, and then left his seat and knelt on the ground. It is definitely a great honor to be the first to be the first in Japan, and there have been many cases of fighting for this since ancient times, and I usually have no other people in this position, such as Keiji Maeda, Keira Sezo, and Nagano Yesei. "Your Highness's generous gift, Fuxiu will live up to expectations!" He said excitedly.

"It's good that you are cautious, but I am still more relieved about you!" I reached out and pulled him up. “…… This battle is different from the past, and the decisive point is to break Takeda's cavalry with iron cannons! Therefore, your main task is not to annihilate as many enemies as possible, but to ensure the safety of the Iron Artillery Corps and your own formation. Once the first fence has been breached, you will have to cover the safe retreat of the Iron Artillery at some cost. In order to strengthen the possible close-range melee, I order Sakurai Sakichi, Ishikawa Sadatomo, and Imu Hanchi to take 200 banners that are good at sword skills under your command! ”

"Your Highness, please rest assured, the last general will go and inspect it again!" After agreeing to my instructions one by one, Gamo Fuxiu said. Shortly after he left, my breakfast was brought in.

"Fu Xiu's strategy is naturally no problem, but is it possible to bear such a white-knives meeting?" After that, Takenaka Hanbei said worriedly.

"I don't think it's going to be a problem!" I broke off a piece of rice ball, put it in my mouth, and chewed it carefully. "With the protection of trenches and fences, the battle ahead is limited, even if fierce, and their main task is to protect the iron artillery team! In this case, I think a clear mind is more important than martial arts. In addition, I am ready to let Ye Sheng lead 1,000 people to respond in the second line, and Caizang and Shengmeng are responsible for protecting the rear team! ”

"The lord is very worried, and this is indeed something that must be guarded against!" Takenaka Hanbei nodded approvingly. "The Takeda Army is different from us, their Chibei was originally a cavalry from the mountains, although it is impossible to move in a large army unconsciously, but it is not impossible to sneak attack hundreds or even thousands of people at the critical moment when the war is in full swing!"

"Yes! That's what I'm worried about......" I nodded, my eyebrows furrowed. "Takeda Katsuyori is certainly inferior to his Lao Tzu, but the twenty-four generals led by the four ministers are still alive! The art of war in Koshu has always been known for its weirdness and strangeness, and it is completely different from the tens of thousands of troops we are used to facing head-on. In a sense, the strategy of a decisive battle at Yuanjiang is very wise, and if the Takeda army ignores us and retreats to the Koshin mountains, it will be troublesome! Sink your feet in the mud; The soldiers of the retired state are back, don't do more, we can't stand tossing us once a year! In the unlikely event that the Takeda Army abandons a frontal decisive battle and scatters to attack, our rear team ......" I shook my head at this.

"Probably not!" Hanbei Takenaka tapped his head lightly. "The person in charge of the general preparation of the whole army is His Royal Highness Shibata, although he may have some disagreements with the lord, but I don't think he will play any tricks in this kind of thing!"

"I don't believe he's going to be sincere in making trouble, but this man is brave and not adaptable, and it's hard to say if he will survive an unexpected blow!" I felt like the food in my mouth didn't taste like anything anymore. "Besides, the Takeda Army may not come from him, and His Royal Highness Niwa! He's never been known for his combat prowess. So in the end, everything depends on ourselves, and others can't expect too much! ”

"Lord...... Are you ...... Isn't it ......" Takenaka Hanbei caught some real thoughts in my look.

"Yes! Today I will tell you the truth that I have never dared to say...... "I looked back, Ah Xue and they had already retreated, and there were only me and Takenaka Hanbei in the big tent at this moment. "My reason tells me that my lord's decision is correct, and that the Takeda Army will come to our 'wall' and break the blood, but I can't help but fear in my heart that if the Takeda Army abandons this battlefield. To be honest, I was really scared of that, because I had no idea how to deal with the sudden change! ”

"Don't worry too much, even if you change your position, your family still has a numerical advantage......" Takenaka Hanbei tried to reinvigorate my confidence.

"Lord!" Kato Duanzo hurriedly walked in at this time. "The Takeda Army has moved, and the direction is coming towards Shirakuhara!"

"It seems...... It's me who is overthinking! I picked up the chopsticks again.