The tall building was like a mountain in front of Togo Shigemata and in the hearts of everyone who invaded the city. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info They were sent to this city, and they fought fiercely with the enemy, and they didn't know how much pain and casualties they had endured, and they didn't know how much they had paid, just to attack and take there.

Shigekata Togo looked at the vague figure of the building, and suddenly felt that it was like the moon, it looked like it was right in front of him, but it seemed to be thousands of miles away.

He quickly lowered his head, gave up the thoughtless thought, and turned his mind back to reality.

At this time, the hunger in the abdomen seemed to become even more intense, and the whole abdomen seemed to be burning, and even the throat was burning with thirst, which felt too uncomfortable.

He turned his head slightly, looking to the left and right, trying to find something to satisfy his hunger, but he couldn't see anything but the ruins and the raging fire and the smoke that filled the air.

He looked at his subordinates behind him, most of whom were also wounded, and their faces were even blackened with soot, which looked ridiculous.

"You ...... Is there anything else to eat? He asked in a low voice. Take them all out. ”

After hearing his order, the people around them stared at each other silently, and then some of them took some food out of their arms.

It was a common dry food cake used by the Han army, and it was used in large quantities because it was easy to carry and eat, and after the Han army began to advance into, these dry food were transported by sea ships from Goryeo to the island of Honshu, and then distributed as supplies to the Japanese who cooperated with the Han army.

Although these things are very good for supporting his stomach, he doesn't dare to compliment the taste of Dongxiang Shigefang, and he still misses the white rice at home. But now he can't care about so much, he just wants to fill his stomach first.

He gathered all the food, then divided himself into a dozen portions, and distributed them evenly to each of them, and it seemed that it was their last meal before they ran out of food.

I wonder if I'll be able to eat the white rice from my hometown again? A thought flashed through his mind.

Then, ignoring the dense dust on the dough, Togo Shigemata directly brought it to his mouth, chewed it casually and swallowed it after a few bites. When the food fell into his stomach, he suddenly felt that the fire in his stomach seemed to stop suddenly, and his limbs, which had been sore and weak, seemed to regain their strength.

With the blood gushing up, a strange sense of well-being rose from the abdomen, everything around was cut off, and the incessant sounds of fighting and gunfire, as if from another world, sounded completely unreal.

But the feeling of happiness soon faded, the burning in his throat became even worse, and he wanted to drink water.

Togo Shigekata wiped the water bladder on his waist and found that it was empty, and the others seemed to be about the same, and there was no one left. His throat seemed to be about to crack, and he lost the mood and strength to give orders to his subordinates.

His eyes were already blurry, and his whole mind was filled with the sound of running water, but what was left of his sanity told him that there could be no one nearby.

Vaguely, he thought of the pond he had just encountered when he had just entered the city. On the path in the pond, he and his men had met fierce resistance from the enemy, many of whom had been killed, and many others had fallen into the pond and drowned. They must not be restrained by anyone now, I am afraid that they should stay at the bottom of the pond and be quietly swollen.

But now, the pond, which had been stained red with blood, seemed so kind and charming to Togo Shigemata's mind, and it seemed like some kind of fairyland was calling him.

There's water there, there's water......

As if a ghost had sent him around, he unconsciously moved his steps suddenly, but this time instead of rushing forward but backwards.

None of his men asked him what he wanted to do, and they all followed him blankly.

And at this moment, there was a dense sound of footsteps in front of him. Togo Shigekata immediately stopped, and then tightly grasped the hilt of the knife in his hand, and the whole person was ready to attack as before. But now he is much weaker than before.

Fortunately, when he saw clearly who was coming from the other side, Togo Shigekata finally breathed a sigh of relief. Judging from the ornaments on the other party's clothes, they were soldiers of the imperial court.

Since the Heian period, the imperial court itself has no army available after the deliberate restrictions of successive shogunates, and the current army is re-recruited during this time. In order to distinguish themselves from the various armies, they imitated the practice of tattooing family crests on the clothes of the feudal armies of each domain, and tattooed chrysanthemums representing the imperial court on their clothes.

So when he saw the crooked chrysanthemum pattern embroidered with the yellow silk thread on their clothes, Togo Shigekata also knew that it was a friendly army coming, so he finally settled down.

When these people saw Togo Shigemata and the others, they were also startled by their hideous appearance, and they didn't relax until they saw the ornaments on their clothes, and they greeted this group of people.

However, even though they were allies, they looked at Togo Shigemata with a very strange look, as if they had seen some kind of monster.

Togo Shigemata also knows his current appearance, but he has no time to care about these problems now.

"Water ......" he said to the other with the last of his strength as he opened his lips that were almost chapped.

The soldiers were obviously a little panicked when they heard his words, but after they understood, they cautiously passed the water to Togo Shigemata and the others.

Togo Shigekata grabbed the water bladder, then forcibly snatched it into his hand, then lifted it up and poured it into his mouth. When these life-saving springs fell from his throat and into his stomach, Togo Shigemata felt that it was so sweet that it was as if he was drinking some kind of elixir.

He regained his strength and spirit, then suddenly raised his head and handed the water bladder back to the person who had given it to him.

was stared at by him like this, and the other party was obviously a little panicked.

"How's it going outside the city now?" Togo Shigekata asked impatiently.

After a few days of fighting in isolation, what he wanted most now was news from outside the city, whether it was good news or not, at least it would make him feel that he had not been abandoned by the whole world.

"We've been attacking this city for the past few days, and we've been sending troops in...... Lord Youfu has been urging us to hurry up and get down here. The little officer was obviously a little afraid of Dongxiang Shigefang, and immediately replied to him, "The fighting in the city is very miserable, and we will send troops in to reinforce every once in a while, and I was sent in yesterday......"

How about the fighting in the city, do you still need to tell me? Togo Shigemata sneered in his heart. The group of officers and soldiers in front of them had obviously only recently been recruited into the army, not to mention experience, and even the courage was not enough. If nothing else, I'm afraid they will soon be one of those corpses in this city.

He did not hide this disdain, and the junior officer opposite naturally felt it, but he did not feel angry, but respected the other party. For this kind of person who had been fighting in the city for several days, he unconsciously felt a sense of awe and fear.

"You'd better go back and rest first, you've been playing long enough these days." He said to Togo Shigekata, "Now that Nishinomaru is almost about to be taken by our army, you can rest in the city." ”

"Nishinomaru has already taken it?" When he heard the other party say this, Togo Shigemata was a little surprised.

However, this accident quickly disappeared, and he had already hit here, and the other allies should have fought far away, at least the Nishinomaru who broke through at the beginning should have taken all of them.

Until now, it's normal to take a break for a while.

Thinking of his experience of fighting in blood and fire in the past few days, Togo Shigekata suddenly seemed to have a sense of being separated from the world.

"Yes, it's already taken." The junior officer nodded, "The lord of the Celestial Empire has already given an order, as long as Nishinomaru is taken down, the enemy forces here are cleared, and the cannons will be brought in, and then the castle tower and other fortresses in the city will be bombarded, so that everyone can use artillery fire to take down other places!" ”

"Cannon......?" Togo Shigekata repeated it in a daze, and then his eyes suddenly lit up.

Soon the siege could be continued with the help of artillery bombardment.

After seeing the overwhelming and devastating artillery fire of the Han army when it began to attack the city, he had become a fanatical admirer of the artillery fire, and during this time in the fierce fighting in the city, he missed the cannon of the Han army immensely every time he encountered an insurmountable obstacle.

However, he also knew that there was no way for the cannon to be transported to the city now, and everyone could only rely on their own flesh and blood to forcibly attack and fight their way out. But if there had been as strong artillery fire as before, I think these obstacles would have been blown down.

Togo Shigemata was terrified of the Han army with these artillery fires, but he was desperate for their help.

"Yes, cannons! Those siege artillery! The junior officer next to him apparently shared the same idea as him, "With these cannons of the Great Han, we will be able to defeat the enemy army in no time!" ”

I can take a break now.

Togo Shigemata suddenly felt extremely tired, as if he couldn't stand on his feet. In the past few days, he has been fighting endlessly, sleeping only for a short period of time every day, or even having no leisure sleep at all, all relying on a strong force, and now that he has eaten and drunk enough, and has been encouraged by such good news, the tense spirit has finally relaxed, and he is extremely eager to rest.

"Lift him up!" Seeing his crumbling appearance, the officer hurriedly called his subordinates to help up Togo Shigekata. "Take him back to rest!"

The soldiers on both sides immediately obeyed the order and set up the Togo Shigekata, and then led the Togo Shigekata to begin to retreat in the direction he had killed all the way.

Togo Shigemata's mind was a little dizzy, and he could barely see anything clearly, but he could still see the eyes of the group of people looking at him.

Respect, fear, and a little envy.

It's like...... Look at a hero like that.

"I'm probably a hero now." Togo Shigekata thought to himself.

Then images suddenly appeared in front of his eyes, including the subordinates he had just attacked the city, the comrades he met when he attacked the city along the way, and finally the young man who fell to the ground with his back to the sky.

The young man's dead eyes seemed to be eyeing him.

His eyes suddenly soured, and tears flowed down his own.

So many people died, but I am still alive.

So you can be a hero.

It turns out that this is called meritorious service.

………………………………

After several days of fighting, after the efforts of groups of soldiers who filled the battlefield, the siege army finally opened up a stable occupation area in the city, and withstood several counterattacks in the city, and they finally gave up the idea of driving the siege army out of the city.

After such a phased victory, Nijo Yasudo and Hashimoto Minoru began to ask Zhou Pu to increase support for the besieging army - now the main force of the besieging army was their men, and the heavy losses really made them heartbroken, and they desperately hoped to get support to reduce their own casualties.

Although Zhou Pu had the intention of consuming them, he didn't want the war to be affected after all, so after judging the situation, he also decided to support them, let the artillery transport the artillery into the city, and then bombard the enemy in the commanding heights of the occupied area.

After hearing Zhou Pu's decision, Erjo Kangdao and the others were of course overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered their subordinates to pave all the roads outside and in the city to open the way for the cannons.

Thanks to the efforts of the Dahan artillery, these heavy cannons were slowly propelled and finally transferred to Nishinomaru in Himeji Castle.

While the artillery was being transported into Himeji Castle, the besieging army in the city was resting and preparing, waiting for the next round of attacks.

This time they had another batch of reinforcements - under Zhou Pu's orders, his lieutenant general Tachibana Soshige led his men to escort the Han artillery into the city, and at the same time, as reinforcements in the city, ready to join the next round of siege.

After these days of offensives, especially after several fruitless counter-attacks by the defenders in the city, Zhou Pu judged that the defenders in the city were already at the end of their strength, and as long as they were given a few more blows, they would definitely not be able to support it. Under such circumstances, he decided to let Tachibana Muneshige lead his troops into the field, end the battle early, and receive the merits by the way.

Besides, if we don't let our henchmen go to war all the time, I'm afraid that the other armies will complain in their hearts, which is very detrimental to internal unity.

In this way, when Togo Shigemata finally got a rest, Tachibana Soshige came to the city with his men and the cannons of the Han army.

During this time, the besieging army also reduced the intensity of the attack, and then in the rare gap between the big battles, preparations were in full swing.

And this strange period of calm also gave the defenders a temporary respite.

But this respite did not allow them to settle down.

At least, the Kyoto Division's representative Itakura Shigemune, who was in charge of the battle, was not able to make it to the scene at all.

At this time, he was staying in the main castle tower, and as he had done before, he was looking down from the window to observe the castle.

But the current Himeji Castle is completely different from when he was just now.

In front of him, the western side has been destroyed so that it is impossible to see the original appearance. The original city wall has collapsed everywhere, there are bricks and ruins everywhere, and in some places there are still fires, the smoke drifts into the sky and the ground is not visible, and everywhere is smoked with smoke, and the once beautiful egrets have turned into gray herons.

In the past few days, under his gaze, these fires slowly spread forward like a terrible poisonous snake, from the city wall to Nishinomaru, to the depths of the castle, and even to the castle several times, to a place not far from his large castle tower.

It is conceivable that if the fight continues, the rest of the city will also suffer such a fate, and the entire city will eventually be in ruins.

In the past few days, although the war has calmed down a little, he also knows that the other side is by no means retreating, nor is it in civil strife, but is shrinking its forces, reorganizing its army, and preparing to launch a new round of offensive -- and that round of attack will definitely bring them incomparably great pressure again.

In recent days, he has been mobilizing reinforcements from outside the city to reinforce the defenders inside the city. However, the casualties of the defenders in the city were very huge, and the speed of reinforcements could not always keep up with the speed of casualties, so they had to retreat slowly under the front of the siege army. And the enemy's occupation area in the city is getting bigger and bigger.

Although he knew that the losses of the besieging army must be greater than theirs, they seemed to have an iron heart, and they did not care about the casualties at all, and pushed forward inch by inch, God knows how the generals on the opposite side would bear to face such losses.

If the fight continues, how long will the city be able to hold on? He couldn't answer the question anymore.

"Takagi." Standing by the window, he suddenly spoke.

Takagi Kiyoshi in the room was a little surprised, and only after a moment did he realize that he was calling him. "Your Excellency?"

"Let's find a way to get in touch with the people of the Han Kou and see if we can talk about it again......" Itakura Shigemune said in a tone that bordered on anguish, "By the way, what is the bottom line that the old man has given you?" Now I can say that I can listen to Han Ko...... While the city can still support ...... now"

"My lord......" At this time, Takagi Kiyoshi was already dumbfounded.

He didn't expect that Lord Itakura, who was originally high-spirited, would say such a thing at this time. This is already a hint that he will do his best to make peace.

But how can peace talks be so easy? If you negotiate now, it will be tantamount to suing for peace, how can Han Kou give in?

"My lord, the Han Kou are in full swing right now, and if we go to peace talks, they may not be ...... You may not be able to listen to it! ”

Itakura Shigemune's face turned pale, and his eyes wandered between the outside of the castle and Takagi Kiyoshi.

"If you keep fighting...... We don't have to ......"

At that moment, the earth suddenly shook.

"Boom!"

Then, as if it were thunder from nine heavens away, a loud noise was heard in the castle tower. (To be continued.) )