Beiyang new warlord

However, if you pass through here, you can directly enter the Musashi Kingdom where Edo is located. This piece of Shinano River is still a must.

"My lord, if you go further, you will reach the Yokogawa Mountain Road. Originally, Kita Shinano was the fiefdom of the Uesugi family, but after the Sekigahara War, the Tokugawa family forcibly relocated the Uesugi family, and distributed Kita Shinano to Suwa, Sanada, etc. Come to a small clan, further south, it is the land directly controlled by the generals of the Tokugawa family. Although these small clans are not strong, but there are too many ants to kill elephants, their relationship with the Tokugawa family is quite close , My lord, it's better to be careful."

Looking at the narrow Shinano Hengshan Road, which is even more difficult to walk than the broken road under his feet, even Mao Jue couldn't help swallowing secretly, and then waved again. Liu Xingzuo of the former army raised the military flag high, loudly Roaring around the legion.

"The general has orders, march!"

It is indeed one of the few difficult places in Japan. In Sun Tzu's Art of War, such terrain is called a branch. It is a difficult place for the enemy, and it is also a difficult place for our army. Although there are no too high mountains, I don’t want to be as spectacular as the Taihang Mountains, but the hills on the border of this inland plateau are rugged enough. Either the mountains have just melted and the trails are extremely muddy, or you have to simply climb uphill. There are two wheels, and the field red cannon wrapped in cowhide tires is a bit stuck here.

"One, two, three, work hard!"

A few pulling mules and horses kicked their hooves desperately in front, followed by a dozen infantrymen gnashing their teeth and pushing. It took a full ten minutes before the heavy artillery cart was pushed out of the mud pit, but the next one was I dared not leave, so I had to mobilize more soldiers to cut wood on the nearby hillside and throw it into the pit. After such a delay, another half an hour passed. It's time to go, and it's only been a little over twenty miles. Looking at the rolling hills and mountains ahead, Mao Jue couldn't help but twitch his brows.

No wonder the Japanese were reluctant to use cannons, this complex mountain shape, bulky cannon was a disaster.

But when the Dongjiang Army was struggling in the mountains of Shinano, the Maeda family in Kanazawa City was bustling like a boiling pot. The Sanada family warriors who had been huddled in Kanazawa City seemed to be in heat in spring, carrying spears, carrying The swords kept marching outside the city, forming a long team.

Neck flags painted with family crests similar to poker flowers rippled magnificently in the setting sun.

Armors of the samurai family are family heirlooms from generation to generation, and the Maeda family is no exception. The famous Maeda Toshi family’s famous gold foil stamped footwear is now also worn on the body of the current head of the Maeda family, Maeda Toshinori. The unique helmet is full of More than half a meter high, sharp like a small mountain, the gold-plated armor on his body also reflects a dazzling yellow light, riding on a horse that is not much bigger than a donkey, the owner of the Maeda family is excited, holding a samurai sword , kept shouting.

"Tang Kou has fallen into the trap and fell into the Hengshan Road in Beixinano. These bastards dare to ignore our Hokuriku warriors and brazenly invade our Kaga domain, kill the warriors, and plunder the property of the warriors. Finally, the time for our revenge has come! Put down the heads of the Tang people, let them see how powerful the Maeda family warriors are, hahahaha!"

It seemed that they had foreseen the victory, killing Tang Kou all over the mountains and plains, Maeda Toshito let out a laugh, and the ugly laughter even spread throughout the entire Kanazawa City.However, it is the courage of the soldiers. With his wanton laughter, the Maeda samurai who walked out of the battle seemed to have a little more confidence and wildness, and his short legs like carrots also moved a little faster.

On the other side of Shinano, Kawanakajima, the famous battlefield of Takeda Uesugi’s family, the same group of samurai ants gathered here. Although the Japanese army is mainly retreating these days, they have also made a lot of preparations secretly. Ishikawa, Sanada, Suwa Sengoku and other samurai all gathered in Komoroyama Castle facing Kawanaka Island. Driven by the samurai, groups of farmers carried stones and blocked the road leading to Kai Musashi tightly. Midogao's parapet defensive position has almost been built. Behind the wall, the special envoy sent by the Tokugawa family, Honda Tadashi, a descendant of Honda Tadakatsu, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Tokugawa, listened to his subordinates with frowning eyes. Report, even if Pu Dai's name is like him, his eyebrows are still twisted into a pimple.

"Thousands of gourd and horse seals? Wuqi Tong pattern flag, this Tang bandit turned out to be a remnant of the Fengchen family?"

The Toyotomi family is indeed a difficult topic to mention for the Tokugawa family, especially from last year to this year, the two Tang and Kou rebellions have caused a lot of trouble. In other words, it is not only the impact of war, but also the political impact is extremely bad.

but!

Amidst the clattering sound, densely packed iron cannons were placed on the parapet. Behind them, there were countless samurai coalition forces from the Tokugawa family, Ishikawa, Sanada and other families, busy preparing for the battle. When they looked around, they could not see the edge Looking back at his own army, Honda also showed a sinister and evil smile in those narrow triangular eyes.

Regardless of whether you are a remnant of the Toyotomi family, since you dare to come, you can be buried here!

Chapter 231. The wolf before the tiger

Strategically, it was extremely difficult for Mao Jue.

First of all, he is incomparable with the Echigo Uesugi family back then. More than half of the entire Hokuriku region is the territory of the Uesugi family. When sending troops to Shinano, Uesugi Kenshin has a solid rear. With great influence, Mao Jue has nothing, and the Echichu and Echigo behind him are still in the territory of others. He is a completely alone army.

Moreover, Beixinano is like a huge cage, with rugged terrain, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Once Mao Jue was blocked in Chuanzhong Island and could not attack for a long time, and the back road was outflanked by the Sanada family, even if Mao Jue was Nezha, With three heads and six arms, he has to be trapped here to death.

Now the situation seems to be developing towards that unfavorable situation.

The reason why it is called Chuanzhong Island is because it is a rare plain in the mountains, sandwiched by the Chikuma River and the Sai River, just like a triangle island in the river. It is also one of the few places in Shinano that is rich in grain. The Takeda family and the Uesugi family did not know how many samurai died in the battle. When the soil was turned over, occasionally rusty broken knives and guns could be turned over.

Mao Jue held a piece in his hand.

Just as he was looking at the broken knife, which was still faintly stained with blood, a sudden roar sounded behind him again.

"Fat Master!"

As no one quite understands, Dongjiang's unique firing order was dragged out of the mud with great difficulty. The Hongyi cannon, which was still stained with a lot of mud, once again launched its majesty on the battlefield, and the heavy gunfire sprayed on the opposite side. On the hillside of Xiaozhushan City, even the breast wall piled up with stones would shatter with a single shot. The broken stones collapsed and flew, and the nearby shogunate samurai screamed and fell down a large piece. The bullet easily pierced into the torso of the foot.

It's just that the firepower of the twenty Hongyi cannons doesn't seem to be so sufficient, they can only cover a small area, and the eighty three-pound cannons of several hundred catties, and the six-pound cannons are a little light, but the weakness of insufficient lethality is also exposed. , lacking the support of the fleet, the firepower of the Dongjiang Army has dropped by more than one level. On the [-]th, it finally struggled out of the mountains. After bombing for more than a day, there is still no tendency to open up the formation. The Japanese people layer by layer The parapet is still there.

After shelling for about 30 minutes, the gun barrels began to glow red and stopped firing. During this interval, the Dongjiang regiments who had been waiting for a long time also launched an attack. There were infantrymen holding the regimental flags and bayonets. The Kumano samurai holding their samurai swords went up side by side and charged towards the top of the mountain all over the mountain.

However, it is a real news for the world. During the Dongjiang army's shouting charge, black helmets and equally black iron cannons appeared behind the parapet on the opposite side.

"Die!"

In the ugly order again, a total of three or four thousand iron cannons shot down one after another.

In the white smoke, there was a sound of puffing, and the running Dongjiang warrior burst out with white marks on his chest or thighs, and fell down screaming. Cotton armor with forged cold armor still has a certain defense against muskets. As long as it is not too unlucky to hit the head, or the gaps in the armor, at most there will be a few bruises on the body, and it will be like a hammer if it is serious. A few bones were broken, but those Noto samurai and Mao Liying's subordinates were not so lucky. They almost saw blood on the spot when they were shot, and the thick bamboo foot armor couldn't stop the bombardment of the iron cannon at all.

A while ago, Mao Jue was bombarding others comfortably behind the earthen wall, but in a blink of an eye it was his turn to suffer this feeling again.

But even though there were heavy casualties, the Dongjiang army still killed the small hillside. The iron cannon warriors who were still anxiously loading the projectiles behind them were suddenly blinded. The iron cannons of the Japanese have no melee function. Amidst the screams, the iron cannon warriors who were shooting fiercely just now were stabbed to the ground one by one. Crazy in the screams, bayonet after bayonet stabbed down, leaving a bloody mess.

However, this is just a low wall. During the interval, there was another rapid sound of iron cannons from behind the parapet on the hillside. Then, a large number of shogunate warriors holding long spears and wielding Japanese swords came down again from both ends. .

On the top of the head, the bullets of the muskets intersected each other, and below, between the two gable walls, thousands of warriors, the Ming army fought fiercely, and the severed heads and stabbed corpses kept rolling down the mountain.

Even if it is an upward attack, even if it is the offensive side, the casualties of the shogunate army are still much higher than those of the Dongjiang army. The battlefield scene is just like the Viking islands in Western Europe when they fought against the Anglo-Saxons. Japanese warriors who lack physical fitness and training are really not good. This kind of Dongjiang Ruishi opponent who worked hard for food and training.

However, there are too many warriors! Kill one team, and then another team kills. Liaodong Jianer is also a human being, and he will be tired. After fighting with such high intensity for more than ten minutes, the attacking Dongjiang army also began to appear. The decline.

Finally, the roaring sound of retreat sounded, supporting the wounded, the muskets were in the rear, firing alternately, the Dongjiang army also retreated from the mountain in a bit of a panic, and behind them, the Japanese warriors let out arrogant roars again.

This kind of fierce battle, the artillery battle was carried out several times alternately, and the fierce battle continued until sunset. Although the Xiaozhushan City in front of us was in a mess, there was still no trace of being breached. The exhausted Dongjiang front army had to retreat again. In the camp.

This time the battle was a solitary attack. In order to pursue speed, it was destined not to bring too many supplies. Mao Jue only carried [-] reserve soldiers who specially carried food and ammunition. Fortunately, as a traverser, he still had more ideas than generals of the same generation. I don't know how much, saving weight is one of them.

Just these piles of bonfires, combined with hot water, what the hungry Dongjiang soldiers gnawed on was a burnt yellow thing that looked like fat.

Tsampa!

This thing is an authentic Tibetan food. It is a pasta made of flour combined with butter tea and sugar. It not only contains the vitamins of tea, but also has the high calories brought by butter, sugar, and flour. It is said that it is 60s, Northwest The frontier guards once used this thing as field rations. A piece of tsampa is enough for a soldier to spend a whole day on the top of the icy and snowy plateau.

Thanks to the border market opened with Houjin, a large amount of Mongolian goods can also flow into the Dongjiang River, so Mao Jue has enough ghee to make tsampa.

But even so, Su Changmei, the general logistics officer, was still worried. The soldiers had finished their meal, so he led a small group of infantry back to the camp in the dark. When he saw Mao Jue for the first time, The fat man who had lost some weight just shook his head with great difficulty.

"General, I have searched more than a dozen nearby villages, but they are all empty, and I haven't found a grain of grain!"

The shogunate's preparations for the war are really in place. From Echaka to Shinano, before reaching Kawanaka Island, half of Shinano has passed, and there are three small feudal clans along the way, and dozens of villages are all empty. In order to deal with him However, Honda Zhongchao came to a thorough fortified wall to clear the country, the purpose was to block Mao Jue to death and starve to death.

But even if the fat man was so anxious that beads of sweat dripped from his forehead, Mao Jue was still thinking about doing nothing there. He took out a broken samurai sword from the ground at noon and wiped it for half an afternoon. It was polished as new again, and I asked someone to add a wooden handle, and it was converted into a shorter rib stick. This end was still playing with his new toy, and Mao Jue gave a absent-minded hum on the other end.

"General, the rations carried by the whole army are only enough for fifteen days. Five days have passed, and if we can't find any more food, our army may not be able to get out of this North Shinano. You have an idea!"

"Don't worry, I will have my own plan, you are tired today, go down first!"

She was still so anxious, but seeing that Mao Jue really didn't pay attention to her, she turned around a few times, and Su Changmei had to bow her head and back out, and went back to the logistics to get busy.

This time the Dongjiang army was in a difficult situation. In order to reduce the weight, they did not bring a tent. Even Mao Jue slept in the open air. Fortunately, camping is a common practice in training subjects. Wozi lives in the wild, and these guys have lived there before, so here is a pediatrician.

As the night deepened, the campfires were gradually extinguished. Wrapped in a thin quilt made of cotton, most of the army began to fall asleep. Leaning on Adelaine's sedan chair, Mao Jue also began to rest slowly. .

But just as he fell asleep, there was a sudden commotion, and then, Mao Jue was suddenly woken up, and in a daze, a short guy who was similar to Tu Xingsun was brought to him, all of a sudden, Mao Jue The drowsiness disappeared completely, and he stood up abruptly to meet him.

"Meet the General, Inoue!"

"What's up!"