Several tributaries of the Tone River system were supplied at full capacity at the same time, and the carrying capacity of the lower reaches was quickly overloaded and the weakest embankments poured into Musashi Province, and the area around Edo Castle in the southern Kanto region was the hardest hit area.

On the first day of the flood, hundreds of people were missing and thousands were displaced, but unfortunately Hojo Shiyasu was on the front line to supervise the war, and his sister-in-law Hojo Shimasa was also on the front line, and only his wife Ruixiin was handed over to him to work on his behalf, and the war was like a gamble with no way out, and the gamblers who had invested all their chips had no chance to retreat.

Hojo Shikang is also a headache, known as the first civil affairs in the Kanto region, there is a group of capable officials in his hands and has really done a lot of good things, at present, there are epidemic spreads in the front and rear of the camp, the treatment of patients requires a large number of doctors and medicinal materials, the total amount of material resources is limited, how to allocate the limited resources to the place where it is needed is a science, whether it is to rescue the people first or save the sergeants in the camp first has become a problem, Hojo Shiyasu's choice is to solve the epidemic infection in the camp first.

There is also a reason why he did this, those who do great things cannot be benevolent, although it is very important to love the people and care for the people, but war is even more important, if you can only choose one of the two, Hojo Shiyasu will inevitably choose the latter, as for the spread of disasters and epidemics in the rear, it will be handed over to the elders of the Hojo family and the judges to deal with.

The wanton storm lasted until the end of summer, and by the time the weather cleared and the soil had dried out, it was almost early autumn, and the damp water had evaporated from the wet water on several sunny days.

It didn't take long for the day to lighten. The fresh air was mixed with the smell of earth and grass. The sun shines on a neat row of arrows in the castle. The low and melodious sound of the conch was heard, and the soft mud pond turned into hard earth on a sunny day, and the howl of war was inevitably blown again.

The archers threw arrows desperately with their bows, and a dozen ashigaru stared at the rain of arrows in the castle and struggled to advance, and as the distance gradually approached, soldiers began to die, and the heroic Hojo samurai raised their swords and rushed to the front, and were shot into hedgehogs by the archers on the arrow turrets at the head of the castle.

Thousands of Ashigaru slowly gathered under the castle like worker ants, and they needed to fill the moikeri under the rain of arrows from the castle. Both mountain castles and flat castles are built with various types of moats, which are similar to moats, and the introduction of living water can be transformed into water hori, which is equivalent to a moat in the actual sense.

If you want to attack the city, you must fill in the moikeri, and the process of digging, transporting and filling the soil is long, not to mention that under the noses of the defenders in the city, the flying stones and arrows thrown down from time to time are extremely dangerous to them. Each side of the earth is escorted forward by several ashigaru carrying a foot pole, and this kind of siege tactic is the only siege method now.

The lack of siege equipment and poor siege weakness were clearly revealed at this time. Tens of thousands of troops besieged and had to use the stupid method of the upper soil to attack the ant, block the earth and then pile up the soil into a mountain to climb the city wall, the Hojo family did not think of other ways, in order to capture this fortified city, the Hojo clan Yasu sent the two hundred iron cannons that he had built up with great difficulty to the front line.

Ise Shubosuke is the leader of this iron running team, it is not easy to get this fat shortage, if it is not for his father is Ise Sadayun's younger brother, he will not be his turn, under the cover of friendly forces, Ise Shusuke led two hundred iron cannon ashigaru to the city, dozens of people lined up in an orderly row to load gunpowder, ignite the torch, test gunpowder, clean the chamber, load lead shots, reload gunpowder, aim and shoot.

The sound of the iron cannon did not cause the panic of the defenders of the city, and the iron cannon will be sporadically fired back at the head of the city, since the iron cannon spread to the east more than ten years ago, the reputation of the iron cannon has spread all over the world after several iron cannon battles in Kinai, and now, the iron cannon is not a new thing in the Kanto region.

The daimyo and many people of Kanto bought a few iron cannons from their own ways, because Kanto did not have the technology to make iron cannons, so the price of an iron cannon was often as high as three or four hundred kanwen, of which one-third was occupied by customs money, local miscellaneous taxes, and the seaport's allowance, and the other part was the profit of the merchants, and only the last third was the cost of purchase and transportation.

Because the iron cannon is too expensive, the iron cannon arming speed in the Kanto region is much slower, such as the Hojo family, a powerful daimyo has the capital to arm two hundred iron artillery teams in one go, and the status of the iron cannon head of Ise Shuhosuke is not a millimeter worse than that of the ordinary reserve general, and it can be compared to the horses and the public in terms of closeness.

Speaking of which, this is not the first time that this iron artillery team has been built, a few years ago, there were only twenty or thirty people in the iron artillery team, and when the Kanto Astronomical Rebellion, the Hojo clan was reluctant to let them go into battle to die, and in recent years, the life of the Hojo family has been getting better and better, and the iron artillery team has expanded several times to the current scale, and has fought several battles in the southern Kanto region one after another.

Ise Shuhosuke thought that this iron artillery team was training well, so he wanted to imitate the iron cannon tactics of the Kira family to kill with an arrow, he first commanded two hundred teams to bombard the arrows on both sides of the Oteji Gate in front of the Oteji Gate of Miyo Castle, but he was counterattacked by the defenders on the arrows, and he shot five or six iron cannons in three or two strokes, and he quickly retreated in fright.

As for the old iron cannon of the Hojo family, the maximum firing range is only 30 meters, not to mention the deviation of the head when it flies more than ten meters, and the power will be greatly reduced.

Such inefficient siege tactics obviously did not play any role, the siege war lasted until the end of autumn and still could not break the city, and there was no hope in the cage battle of Yuzu Castle with 1,000 to 40,000, and the long wait for reinforcements made Nagano Kentada a little unsustainable, but fortunately, the Long Tail Army quickly got out of the predicament and trekked hard for nearly a month to come to Ueno Province.

As soon as he came to Ueno Province, the Nagao family faced a siege battle, this time his enemy was the Naha clan of Isesaki Castle, Nagano Yoshimasa took the initiative to say that he was not good at attacking the castle and invited Nagao Keitora to help in the battle, Echigo no Ryu agreed almost without thinking about it, and soon he led an army of 15,000 to besiege Isesaki Castle together, relying on the excellent iron cannon trained and equipped (eliminated) by the Kira family. Easily suppressed the momentum of Naba Sogen in Isesaki Castle.

This Nabo clan is a branch of the Oe Hirogen lineage. Speaking of which, it is also with Echigo Maori's Hojo Takahiro and Yasuda Keimoto. And the new rise of the small overlord of An Yun Yuan is the same family, the family crest is the famous word three-star, the family grid can be comparable to Hojo Takahiro, the first ancestor is the son of Oe Hiro (also known as Zongyuan), and it is really strange that the name of the ancestor is the same as the name of the ancestor in his generation.

As early as more than ten years ago, after the end of the night battle of Kawagoe, Naha Munemoto had maintained a close relationship with the Hojo family, if it were not for the Kanto Astronomical Rebellion. Maybe he would have become a retainer of Odawara a long time ago.,This time the first one to jump out is also a wish for many years.。

Nagao Keitor's siege skills are obviously much better than those of the Hojo family, and the powerful iron cannon firepower ensures that there is no problem in carrying out the iron cannon tactics of the Kira family, and as soon as you get started, you can knock out all the buildings in Isesaki Castle that are more than five meters old, whether it is an arrow turret or a small castle tower, don't think about standing people.

Isesaki Castle is also a mountain castle, and the taste of climbing the mountain is not pleasant, but fortunately, a dirt mountain is only more than 100 meters high, and the mountain is not steep and difficult to walk, and the dense Nagao family ashigaru slowly advances in the sound of military drums, and the defenders in the city immediately greet them with bows and arrows.

A dense rain of arrows fell on the trail in a long track. Whenever the rain of arrows poured out, the experienced veteran would raise his head and lie on the ground. Katsuzaburo and a few of his companions didn't quite understand what he was doing, so he moved a little slower, and was kicked down by Sugihara Shusuke behind him, and then the samurai pounced on Katsuzaburo very quickly.

"Oops! It hurts! Before he finished speaking, he heard a crackling rain of arrows.

Sugihara Shusuke didn't care about decency, and scolded: "Do you bastards want to die? Don't you see that the arrows at the head of the city are about to fall? ”

"Yes! Be! Several recruits were frightened, and even the voices echoed, at this time, the ashigaru people got up one after another, carrying the step and continuing to move forward, Sugihara Shusuke glared at them: "Hurry up and catch up with the array, don't you see that the friendly troops behind you are waiting for you!" I've never seen you guys so stupid and how they got in. ”

Sugihara Shusuke scolded all the way away, so that a few ashigaru wanted to find a crack in the ground, and a middle-aged man next to them walked over with a smile and comforted: "Don't feel sad, we old guys all came slowly after eating this sin back then, and the battlefield has no eyes on the battlefield, maybe when you have to give your life here, these samurai masters are all burdened with military orders, how can you give us soldiers a soft conversation, and you must listen to orders that you don't understand, this little setback is not a problem, just get used to it." ”

At this time, I heard the samurai in front of me give an order: "Continue to rush, the lord has an order, and the reward for breaking the castle is thousands, everyone follows me to rush, and you must capture Isesaki Castle!" ”

"Hah!" The ashigaru took a deep breath and continued to move on.

Different from the unprepared Hojo Army, the Long Tail Army was equipped with simple siege vehicles, in fact, siege vehicles had been formed thousands of years ago, the earliest this was called a battering ram, and later improved into a siege vehicle, which had corresponding applications in ancient Rome and the Han Empire.

The manufacture of the siege vehicle is not complicated, a triangular or olive-shaped metal support frame is covered with an outer skin, and inside is a thick log suspended by iron chains on the girder, the tail of the log has a booster crank, and the front end is an iron cone, some of which will be made into the shape of a sheep's head, which has been called a battering ram since ancient times.

A six-wheeled siege vehicle approached the castle under the cover of several shield-carrying ashigaru teams, and the samurai hiding behind the siege vehicle grabbed the crank of the battering ram together, and slammed into the city gate after swinging backwards with a force, Isesaki Castle's Oteemon was slammed and trembled, and the wave of the Tsunamune who was in charge of commanding the defense was startled, and hurriedly shouted: "You can't let that strange thing get close to Otemon, shoot back immediately, shoot back!" ”

The defenders at the head of the city immediately returned fire with bows and arrows, and the long-waiting ashigaru team raised the pole to cover the siege vehicle, and the dense rain of arrows embedded in the pole made a crisp crackling sound, and the siege vehicle did not stop attacking from beginning to end, hitting the city gate again and again, the defenders in the city were a little overwhelmed, they had never seen such a strange thing, and they didn't know how to deal with them, and the balance of victory tilted towards the longtail army in a burst of chaos.

Saito Asanobu looked at the tattered three-star flag at the head of the castle and said with a smile: "Isesaki Castle is not large, and it is besieged by our army and cut off on all sides, and there is no way out. There is no water source in the mountains. It's up to them to see how long they can hold out. It's only a matter of time before this city is forced to do so! ”

"Naturally, the sooner the better." Long-tailed Jinghu looked at the mountains in the south and frowned, "There is not much time left for us. ”

Hojo Shiyasu's eyes were bloodshot and he seemed to have not closed his eyes for several days, because he had received the terrible news that Isesaki Castle had been captured by Nagao Keitora, and that the castle had not yet been breached, and that several mounds of earth stood outside the castle walls, and several broken walls hung with stumps and broken arms, and the dark red blood stained the loess mounds reddish-brown.

Isesaki Castle is a mountain castle. Before the fall of Kaeki surrendered was normal, not all mountain castles had enough water, not every mountain castle could hold on for months, under the crisis of water and food shortage, Isesaki Castle was forced to open the castle, and his sons Naba Rongzong and Naba Soan brothers went out of the city to surrender, and Naba Zongyuan committed suicide by seppuku in exchange for the chance of survival and submission of the whole city.

The city has not been breached, under the onslaught of 40,000 troops day and night, the city is like a small boat in the wind and rain that may capsize at any time, and every time it is almost able to break through the Otemon, and it is forced to fight back again and again by the tenacious defenders to drive out. In front of the big hand gate of the Imperial Castle, the dark doorway is like a giant beast that chooses people to devour. Devoured hundreds of Hojo Army's lives.

For many days of continuous siege, the number of defenders in the city was reduced by more than half, and the city was not enough to let the townspeople in the city make up, Nagano Kentada's rule was quite famous, many townspeople were willing to help defend the city, and the courage of blood and spirit could be topped for a while, and after a long time, the soldiers were tired and soon lost their morale, and the morale fell and the battle damage was constantly refreshing.

The townspeople in the city are quietly getting fewer and fewer and no one finds them, and the corpses of the war dead are casually discarded on the castle and on the side of the streets, and no one cares, not that they don't want to burn the remains of their comrades, but the soldiers are too tired, and the Hojo family's crazy attack day and night does not give them time to rest at all, and even sleeping has become a luxury.

Another reason is that there is not enough wood in the castle, so the townspeople can only tear down their houses to make fires and cook, and less than 1,000 men have died in the cage battle, and the women are busy burying pots and cooking and healing the wounded, and they also have to do the work of men, repairing the broken castle defenses, Otemon, and even patrolling and temporary guards at night.

They were also very tired, they couldn't afford to eat with chopsticks, everyone alive in the city was gritting their teeth and persevering, they didn't realize that the dead bodies were quietly spreading the terrible plague, and the remaining mosquito breeding in the heat was a good medium for the spread of the plague, and soon a plague turned into a terrible disaster.

Nagano Kentada's pressure is very great, while guarding the city and dealing with the city's affairs, two days and two nights without closing his eyes has become commonplace, he is nearly sixty years old and only skin and bones remain, more than a month of high-intensity cage city war made them pay a great price, his relatives are not left behind, if it is not for the early expectation to put his wife and children in Minowa Castle, I am afraid that Nagano Kentada's line will be extinct.

He knew that what he had done was wrong, and it was a mistake to force men and women in the city to bear heavy military service and husband's service, but he didn't think he was a brutal samurai, and forced men over the age of thirteen to take up arms to defend the city, and it was a miracle to hold on for more than a month under difficult circumstances.

A samurai with tattered armor and messy hair came up and whispered, "My lord, there are still 1,531 soldiers who can take up arms. ”

Nagano Kentada sighed, "Thank you for your hard work! But Ma Shou. ”

"My lord, please go and rest for a while, there is absolutely no problem with my high mountain here!" Takayama said.

"The medicine in the city has long been used up, how can you let me sleep in peace!" Nagano Kentada frowned, and soon it was dawn, neither of them could sleep, and a new day began again with a new attack.

The most important thing in the cage battle is soldiers, morale, grain and grass, water and medicine, there is no need to talk about defending the city without soldiers, and there is no need to defend the city without morale, the importance of grain, grass and water does not need to be repeated, and the bad effects of lack of medicine and medicine have rarely been mentioned before, in fact, this is the most important part.

In the arduous cage battle, whether the wounded can be treated in time is very important, the patient who does not get effective treatment will become the source of infection, there is no advanced disinfection measures such as ultraviolet antivirus, especially in this small city There is a lack of doctors and medicine, many wounded soldiers can only watch him festering and die all over, you can imagine how much morale their comrades can still have.

No one noticed that the epidemic was quietly spreading, and the townspeople who died of illness appeared for several days, because the continuous attacks of the Hojo army were ignored, until the epidemic turned into a plague, and after nearly a hundred defenders died of the disease, the samurai realized that something was wrong, and some samurai spontaneously burned highly decomposed corpses, but they themselves were quickly infected, and Nagano Kentada also realized the seriousness of the situation, and it was too late at this time.

He had to order the seriously ill samurai to clean up the corpses, pile them up and incinerate them with the little wood that remained, and the smoke covered half of the city, leaving the faces of the survivors standing in the distance only pain and sorrow.

Five days later, the Nagano army, which could not pull the bow and arrows and exhausted the last trace of strength, gave up resistance and allowed the Hojo army to break through the Otemon Gate of Mitsuki Castle, and Nagano Kentada, who could continue to fight, and more than 60 samurai, all of whom were still alive in the city at this time, were only more than 500 people, all of them were women and children, and the men were either killed in battle or died of plague, and from a distance, several thousands of corpses were piled up together. (To be continued......)