Crossbows, which were introduced to Japan as early as the Tang Dynasty, were all the rage on the battlefields of the Heian period (8th to 10th centuries AD). Crossbows, especially large crossbows, can be seen in many famous battles, such as the Renshen Rebellion, the Iji Gongga Rebellion, the Yuanqing Rebellion, and the Battle of Chuchuanzha in the first nine years. However, due to the high production cost, difficult maintenance, and the lack of samurai spirit, except for a small number of ninja who are still equipped with crossbows, crossbows have basically withdrawn from the battlefield, but I don't know where the Shinano people have turned out and restored these old antiques.

However, old dogs also have a few sharp teeth. The crossbow was abandoned by the war only because of its lack of versatility and low cost performance, and no one dared to question its excellent lethality. After a tooth-aching creak, the first batch of crossbow arrows from the city of Umi no Kou pierced into the crowd of the Takeda army below the castle with the sound of whirring wind.

The arm-thick crossbow arrows, like powerful javelins, easily pierced through fences, wooden shields, bamboo bundles, feet, and human bodies as if they were tearing through paper. Whether it was a samurai wearing sturdy armor or a full-footed ashigaru wearing a carcass, all beings were equal in front of the crossbow arrows, and they were all easily torn through and pierced, and then pierced into the body of the second sergeant, followed by the third and fourth...... It wasn't until five or six lives were hung up that he slammed into the ground, forming strings of human flesh candy gourds mixed with blood and dirt that made the surrounding crowd creep.

Although there were only a few crossbows on the city, compared to the huge base of the siege troops, even if they were overloaded, they could only cause negligible direct casualties, but their blow to the morale of the Takeda army was fatal.

No matter how brave a samurai is, he may be able to see death in the face of a strong enemy who seeks and cut off his head, but he cannot approach the enemy from beginning to end, and he is slaughtered meaninglessly like a miscellaneous soldier or even like a domestic animal, which is undoubtedly not an honor.

Therefore, when several unlucky samurai and even a well-known general were drawn one after another "bow and crossbow version sticker experience ticket" and shot into meat skewers, Takeda Fang and the low-level samurai began to have obvious shakes and riots, and then radiated to the whole army.

Although the ancestors succeeded in setting up the cloud ladder on the head of the city and climbing the city wall many times, and even once took down Waiguo and Ma De, and attacked Ninomaru, they were always so far behind, and finally they were forced down by the stubborn defenders.

The battle lasted from early morning to evening, and both the attacking side and the defenders suffered heavy casualties, but the castle survived. Seeing that it was getting late, Takeda Shintora finally withdrew his troops in desperation.

Xu was frightened by the fierceness of the day, and the moonlight and starlight hid into the layers of clouds together, making the night extraordinarily thick that night. Outside the city, a great darkness surrounded the camp, and only a dozen torches and bonfires burned faintly, and the soldiers lay on the ground crookedly, exhausted and sleeping, forgetting for a moment their fear and hunger, except for some of the young men who had just begun to cry lowly, as if they had not yet woken up from their fears. Farther away, in the tent, the painful groans of the wounded soldiers could be faintly heard.

With Takeda Shingen's care, the Jingzhen Department was not drawn into the first few attack waves in the bloody battle of the day, and did not suffer too many losses, so it was also arranged for an errand of vigil warning.

It may be that both sides have exhausted their strength today, and although they have been on guard, neither has taken the initiative to provoke a night attack. After three watches, the silence of the night and the wailing and moaning formed a kind of terrifying mood, which made the nerves and already highly nervous Jingzhen all day more and more upset, although he usually tried his best to show maturity and wisdom, he was only an eleven-year-old boy after all. In order to ease his mind a little, he couldn't help but stand up and prepare to get out of the tent to make a round, but he collided with a person who stepped in.

"Katsuchiyo, why don't you rest at this time, and suddenly scare me" Jingzhen looked at it, it was Takeda Shingen, and then he put his mind at ease and complained.

"It's Qingxin, Qingxin, you guy, have you forgotten that I have been served!"

"Yes, Harunobu-sama! Okay, Harunobu-sama! I don't know what Harunobu-sama is doing so late? ”

Takeda Shingen didn't pay attention to the ridicule expressed by Jingzhen's deliberate aggravation of the pronunciation of the two words Qingxin, but his face was full of heaviness: My father has completely lost his mind, and he actually decided to continue the attack tomorrow during the military discussion just now, but if he continues to fight like today, he is afraid that the battle situation will collapse! ”

"With the appearance of the hall master carrying the text of Zongsanzuo, His Royal Highness Kudoshita and others are in front of the old routine, who dares to speak up! However, now that the city has been repeatedly deflated, our army is already difficult to ride a tiger, once the city cannot be successfully uprooted, it will greatly boost the arrogance of the rebels in Shinano, and also shake the wall-riding faction at both ends of the head and rat, and wait and see the situation, which will have a serious impact on the follow-up strategy. ”

"Therefore, the idea of the hall master's quick attack is not wrong, based on the comparison of the combat power of the Takeda Army and the Shinano clan and the intensity of today's siege, it should have been won long ago. However, there were other masters in the city, and the blind attack did not give full play to the advantage of our army's combat power, so the other party finally let the other party defend it. ”

"Oh, why can't it be a ploy of His Highness Hiraga Genshin?"

Hearing Takeda Shingen's slightly curious inquiry, Jingzhen unabashedly showed her disdain for the enemy's commander.

"Hehe, if His Royal Highness Hiraga really has the ability to suppress our army this time, the Iwamura Tian Oi clan would have already punched Suwa and stepped on the high distance, and he would be invincible to the Shinano group, not to mention snatching the guardian position of the Ogasawara clan, at least it won't even be able to pacify Saku-ichi-gun."

"Of course, it is also possible that His Royal Highness Hiraga is obscure or has a flash of inspiration. But the Dajing clan is not a big family, and it is also an ordinary posture to be the master, and it is easy to replace it with this book, and there is no need to play this kind of routine of taoguang and obscurity. If it is said that it is a flash of inspiration, the strategy can be achieved by chance, but in the face of a strong enemy, the wrist that can unite the rabble as one, burst out with high will and extraordinary combat power, can not be attributed to luck and luck. ”

"Yes, I think the same way, but after listening to Jingzhen's analysis, I am more certain. Is there a solution now? ”

"Know yourself and know your opponent, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles. As for the enemy's suspected think tank, it is only known that it is good at attacking, and other information is almost zero, so it is difficult to judge. I have sent my ninja army to inquire about the news, and I will only be able to act when the information is complete. ”

"Good at attacking? Shouldn't it be good at defense? …… Yes! Takeda Shingen asked at first puzzlement, and then he quickly came back to understand.

"Yes, there are many ways to defend the city, both strict defense and defense, and there are also defenses and attacks, both of which are not up and down, but each has its own merits. Whether it is the good use of strong bows, repairing crossbow arrows, or a few just right counterattacks out of the city, it shows that the masters in the city are not patient with passive defense, and are more inclined to actively kill and weaken our army, and finally achieve the effect of holding on. ”

"Therefore, no matter whether the hall master attacks or is trapped tomorrow, I am afraid that the other party will not cooperate honestly, but will take the initiative to change his tactics as he did today, and he must be prepared."

After listening to Jingzhen's analysis, Takeda Shinxuan's solemn face finally improved, and he smiled a little teasingly, "The wise generals in my family didn't say a word today, and we thought his stomach was empty, so he still had an idea." Just now, why don't you just talk to your father? ”

Jing Zhen rolled her eyes when she heard this, "Come on, you are looking for me tonight, I'm afraid that three points are from the original intention, and seven points are instructed by the hall owner." Those words just entered your ears, and it should reach the ears of the hall owner in a moment. ”

Looking at Takeda Shingen's expression that he really couldn't hide from you, Jingzhen continued.

"After all, your good father, our pavilion master, is violent and not faint, although he often can't control his temper, but he always has enough reason and strategy when it comes to critical times. With the old man's usual financial obsession, today's battle can be described as a blood loss, and after taking stock of the losses in the evening, I am afraid that I will have already sobered up in distress, so I will send you to ask for advice in a hurry. ”

Takeda Shingen couldn't hold back the serious expression on his face at all, and said with a smile:

"Knowing the father Mo Ruozi, if it weren't for your innocence, with you knowing the old man like this, others would have to treat you as my half-brother. However, since you know his mind so well, don't you know that he sent me to ask about the plan to break the city? ”

Jingzhen shook her head and said with a wry smile: "There is nothing to do during the day, but it's not all prevarication. From the moment I saw the enemy digging through the upper reaches in advance and turning the ground into water, I knew that this battle would not be easy to fight. Between attack and defense, the defending side has a geographical advantage, and can only regain the advantage from the aspects of time, people, that is, timing, troops, and strategy. ”

"In terms of timing, after the arrival of our 5,000 main forces, we did not choose to take advantage of the situation to attack the city, but chose to wait for the arrival of reinforcements from all sides. In terms of troops, the soldier saint Sun Wu once said that ten will surround it. Our available troops are 8,000 men, and the enemy can also put together one or two thousand combat strength, which is also a significant gap from the ten times the number of troops needed to besiege the city. Therefore, neither of these two aspects has any advantages, so no matter how capable the other side is, as long as there are no obvious mistakes, this battle will naturally be difficult to fight. ”

"Therefore, it seems to me that the wise thing to do now is to put aside the truce and make a slow decision. Victory or defeat depends on the final result, not in a moment. But this opinion is estimated to be difficult for the old man, and even Qingxin to accept. After all, this is the first battle of our strategy Shinano, and it is also the first battle after your Yuan service, so it's really hard to be calm when you retreat like this! ”

Hearing this, Takeda Shingen also sighed, "Yes, if the old man asks the opinions of all parties before the war, I will definitely not approve of such a hasty dispatch of troops." But when the bow is opened, there is no turning back. My first battle was a trivial matter, anyway, the old man felt that Jiro (Note 1) was a hundred times better than me every day, and it didn't matter if the result was good or bad; But this battle can't be fought, Shinano, and even those gutless rats in Kai will jump out to make trouble for their own family! ”

"So, that's all I say, now it's up to the old man to think about whether to fight or retreat. But in any case, it is not wrong to find out more about the enemy and strengthen your vigilance. ”

"Got it, I'll tell the old man exactly what you said."

"By the way, there's one more important thing!" Seeing that Takeda Shingen was about to go out and leave, Jingzhen suddenly said with a straight face.

"You can say it" Seeing Jingzhen's upright expression, Takeda Shingen also treated it solemnly.

"You help me to ask the old man for a favor, don't arrange for my troops to be in front of the next siege, I finally trained some strong soldier seeds, and it would be a pity to be buried under the crossbow arrows in vain. In addition, my smart head was almost given away several times today, and I have to add money! ”

"Bastard! You're in front of you, and I really believe your nonsense. In today's battle, you took 100 of your own people to fight soy sauce for a day, and you injured a total of seven or eight people, and three or four of them ran too fast and injured their feet when retreating. Lord Ganli Bei Qianshou folded most of the elite the day before yesterday, and he didn't complain after three arrows, what else are you not satisfied with! Seeing that Jingzhen could say such lazy words in a serious manner, Takeda Shingen couldn't help but burst out foul language, "Think about it with your smart head, the old man arranged for you to be on duty tonight, isn't it just to let you have an excuse to be lazy and avoid war tomorrow, so that you can put that smart head on your neck!" ”

"Haha, that's good, the old man is wise!"

"Come on, your old man is long and the old man is short today, I'll go back and repeat it truthfully, I'm afraid that tomorrow I will say goodbye to you in the ancestors."

"Hey, obviously you also called!"

The two laughed a few more words, deliberately diluting the tension in their hearts, and before Takeda Shingen was about to leave to return to his life, he was stopped by Jingzhen again.

"Strengthen your vigilance and protect yourself! Also, believe in yourself, perhaps, this battle will change because of you! What I just said was for the owner, and this is a piece of advice for Harumin! ”

"Well, you are the same, but don't die!"