Outside Kitanosho Castle, Mt. Ashiba, where the Takeda Army's main camp is located.

The dense fog of the early morning gradually dissipated, revealing the castle of Beizhizhuang, the gray and white city walls, and the golden flags of the two geese fluttering proudly at the head of the city.

The dew was shining through the armor, and I felt a slight cold.

"Fire!"

Li Xiao tightened the button on his cloak, raised the monocular Qianli tube in his hand, and looked into the city.

Behind Li Xiao, all the generals of the Feida Yuezhong Legion stood on the top of the mountain, and each of them also picked up a pair of one-eyed Qianli tubes and looked at the North Zhuang City together.

As Li Xiao's words fell, the order flag on Ashiba Mountain waved.

Then there was a rumbling cannon fire, and the earth began to tremble.

The shelling continued to extend, and after a while, Li Xiao put down the monocular Qianli tube heavily, and paced in place with his hands in his hands, his face solemn.

Li Xiao took off his cloak and threw it back, and after a while, he picked up the one-eyed Qianli tube again and looked towards the city again, this time his brows furrowed.

When the shelling continued, Li Xiao stretched out his hand and said in a deep voice: "Stop the shelling!" Let Rui Costa come and see me immediately. ”

"Oh!"

As the flag danced, the sound of the canopy subsided.

On the top of the mountain, the generals of the Takeda family also put down their one-eyed thousand lili tubes, and their faces showed a thoughtful look.

Not long after, wearing riding boots and a Western-style saber hanging from his waist, Rui Costa strode up the mountain, saluted with his hands over his chest in front of Li Xiao, and said in a tone of frustration in Japanese.

"See the lord."

Li Xiao stared at Rui Costa and asked, "What is the effect of the shelling?" ”

Rui Costa showed a slightly embarrassed look on his face, but he still reported it truthfully, and said: "Back to my lord, in the past, the cities attacked by our army were all built with civil engineering. This city, on the other hand, is built with large stones, and our artillery attack is limited. ”

Even though the generals already knew the result, Wen Zhi's face was still cold.

Shima Katsu couldn't help but reprimand: "Aren't you big barrels known as having a city that cannot be attacked?" Why is this city less than two years old? I don't take it either. ”

"In fact, the city had been built for three and a half years," Ruy Costa corrected, "and had heard that the enemy general had built the city the year before. Makes the city stronger. The big barrel is not invincible, and many fortified cities on the Europa continent cannot be captured with low-caliber guns. ”

Li Xiao asked: "Rui, then you said that the power of artillery bombardment is so limited. ”

Rui Costa replied: "Back to my lord, the shelling has been confirmed. Under the city's defenses, the shelling of the six-pounder guns was largely ineffective. ”

Li Xiao's face turned pale when he heard this, and he understood that the Hida Yuezhong Legion, the artillery teams attached to each reserve, and the big cylinders under the jurisdiction of the bannerheads. Mainly all six-pounder guns.

The composition of these six-pounder guns is also different, and the highest quality is caused from the Nanban, and generally only Li Xiao, Li Zheng is directly under the reserve. Affordable.

As for other banner-level retainers, such as Fujido Takatora and Kinoshita Hidenaga. Shenbao Changxian can only use the six-pounder cannon eliminated from the equipment directly under the reserve, or second-hand from the Ming maritime merchants.

The most recent is the six-pounder cannon manufactured by Li Xiao's own military factory.

However, the Japanese-made six-pounder guns could not be cast in iron, and most of them were cast in copper, which was relatively heavy. Haulage is more cumbersome. And due to the lack of craftsmanship, there is an unexpected surprise moment waiting for the easy explosion.

And copper cannons. Each shot causes the chamber to expand, and the longer it is used, the less accurate and range-bound it becomes.

There's no way, this book is not a stream of science and technology, and with the ability of Li Xiao, a half-barrel water science student, it is only here. …,

As can be seen from the shelling effect just now, when building the North Castle, the city builders designed the city gate as a concave angle to avoid being at the angle of direct fire from the large cylinder.

Therefore, it is no longer feasible to use the previous tactics to directly blast through the city gate with a large cylinder.

"What about the nine-pounder cannon, the twelve-pounder?"

Li Xiao asked Rui Costa.

Rui Costa replied: "Returning to my lordship, the effect of the nine-pounder cannon is also very limited, not to mention that this city is blocked by two rivers, so that our army's artillery positions are a little farther away, if you are close to shoot, you can give it a try." As for the twelve-pounder gun, it was lethal enough, but only two were not enough to threaten much. ”

Listening to Rui Costa's words, Li Xiao nodded and said, "According to what you mean, if you want to break through Beizhizhuang City, you must be equipped with enough twelve-pounder guns, right?" ”

Rui Costa was very serious, and said, "Yes, if there is another eighteen pounder cannon, I have enough confidence." ”

Listening to Rui Costa's words, Li Xiao almost scolded the word fart.

Eighteen pounds Mo said that the Portuguese did not have it, not even the Dutch East India Company.

Even if the Portuguese had it, eighteen pounds was not a purchase for them.

I heard that forty years later, in the battle between Yuan Chonghuan and Houjin in Ningyuan, the Hongyi cannon at the head of Ningyuan City was an eighteen-pounder cannon.

It is said that the Portuguese salvaged a British cruiser that ran aground in a storm off the coast of Macao, and then sold it to the Ming Kingdom.

With the national strength of the Ming Dynasty at that time, it was only equipped with 30 gates, and there were only 10 gates at the head of Ningyuan City.

At this time, it took another twenty years for Miura to become the first Englishman to land in Japan, and British power was simply out of reach.

As for Rui Costa's claim that he had fired an eighteen-pounder cannon as a first mate on the Pharaoh, it was nothing short of a day.

Thinking of this, Li Xiao looked at this northern Zhuang City, and couldn't help but feel tricky at the moment.

At this moment, on the castle tower of Kitanosho Castle.

After hearing the shelling of the Takeda Army and stopping, Shibata Katsuie, who had been sitting in the castle tower drinking, breathed a sigh of relief and calmly raised a glass of wine from his front and took a sip.

Shibata Katsuya put down his wine glass, and Ashi, who had the color of a country and a city, added wine to the glass.

At this time, there was the sound of the castle tower's footsteps.

Sakuma Morimasa pressed the sword in his hand, strode up the castle tower, knelt down in front of Shibata Katsuie, and said, "Kitanosho Hall, the Takeda army has stopped shelling. ”

Shibata Katsuie's wrinkled face said calmly, "I already knew. ”

Sakuma Morimasa sighed, and then said: "It seems that Takeda's consistently sharp artillery fire is useless in front of this castle, and it seems that the method of building a castle taught by those southern barbarians is really very useful." ”

Shibata Katsuya snorted and asked, "How can Li Xiaoke show signs of attacking the city after the shelling stops?" ”

Sakuma Morimasa replied, "No, the Takeda Army retreated from all sides, obviously retreating in the face of difficulties. ”

"Li Xiao, but he has no guts."

Shibata Katsuya scolded.

Hearing Shibata Katsuie's rude words, Oda couldn't help frowning slightly.

Shibata Katsuya smiled slightly, stretched out his hand to grasp Oda City's hand in his palm, and said gently: "It's okay, retreat, if the Takeda army shows signs of attacking the city again, come back and report again." ”

"Oh!"

Sakuma Morimasa bowed again and retreated from the castle tower before he descended the stairs when he heard the sound of his clothes peeling behind him and the whispering of Oda Ichi.

When Sakuma Morimasa heard this, he couldn't help frowning, and wanted to go back to persuade him, but after hesitating for a while, he sighed and slowly went downstairs, and at this time, the sound of Shibata Katsuie's heavy breathing was heard behind him. …,

"The lord is finally getting old."

Sakuma Morimasa couldn't help but smile bitterly.

At this moment, Shibata Katsuya looked at the flush on Oda's cheeks and his body as white as mutton fat, slowly put on his clothes, but his eyes flew out of the city, and said in his heart: "Come on, Takeda, this city is your land of flesh and blood." ”

"My lord, my subordinates Maeda Toshi's family is asking for war."

"Hashiba Hidenaga please fight."

"Shimakatsu is fierce, please fight."

"Fujido Gaohu please fight."

On the mountain of Ashiba Mountain, Li Xiao looked at all the flag-level generals kneeling on his body, and couldn't help frowning, and said, "What are you doing, did I give the order to attack the city?" ”

As Li Xiao's retainer of the pen, Dao Shengmeng said loudly: "Lord, the army of this family is gathered under the city, and the strength is five times that of Shibata Katsuya, how can you retreat because of the strong city, and your subordinates are willing to take the lead, even if you don't need a big cylinder, and the flesh and blood are like a river, you must also capture the northern Zhuang City." ”

Shima Katsu's order was echoed by the generals.

Kinoshita Hidecho stood aside and said: "My lord, if the 50,000 troops gather under the city, if they delay the siege of the city, they will also be tired and slack, not to mention that this is trapped in the cost of food for the soldiers under the city, and it is also huge to delay for a day. ”

Fujitang Gao Hu said: "My lord, in the past, when did you need to work together to attack the city, if you don't break the city, now is not the time to take care of the military strength." ”

Li Xiao saw the soldiers, saw this fortified city, and was still not afraid of strong attacks, which showed his sharpness.

But Li Xiao thought about it, looked at Honda Masanobu, and asked, "What do you think?" ”

Honda Masashi said: "My lord, my subordinates feel that the goal of this family is the whole world, not one city and one region. ”

"The city of the north of the village, can be besieged but not attacked, the family left part of the troops to besiege, and then the army marched into the front, the river, the same is true for the land, and after the time passes, after the food of the north village city is exhausted, it can be captured in one go."

After Honda Masashi finished speaking, Toriya Soyi said on the side: "Honda-sama's words, there is no consideration, if it is the family's strategy to attack the Echizen country, there is no problem, but if the Oda family reinforcements arrive, the Army, Oda Nobutada personally comes, and the family divides the troops in Echizen, isn't it for each to break through?" ”

Honda Masanobu said confidently: "Master Toraya is too worried, I have already thought of this, I can come forward to ask the Tokugawa family to attack Owari in order to divide the momentum of the Oda army." ”

"What if the Oda family ignores Tokugawa's invasion of Owari and goes all out to fight the main family?"

"Owari is the confidant of the Oda family, and Nobutaka would not dare to be careless."

"I said what if it was just in case?"

Li Xiao waved his hand to stop the dispute between the two military advisors.

At this time, a samurai entered the military tent and reported to Li Xiaoyu, saying: "Report to the Duke of Yakata, the Duke of Chaoyue has led the army of his family, united with Date, Satake, Utsunomiya, Yuki and other daimyos, and started an all-out war with the Hojo family. ”