Chapter 481
Battle of Ninja City
Chapter 481 Battle of Ninja City (4.8K)
Hearing about samurai outside the shogunate, Daidaiji Masashige sent his vassal Yamagami Hisada to visit Hideka, Hideie smiled and said to the surrounding daimyo, "Believe it or not, it must be that Kawagoe Suruga Mamoru (Daoji Masashige) couldn't hold on." I have sent someone to beg for mercy."
"Hahahaha~" The Xiu family's joke was actually not funny, but the big names around them sold the Xiu family's face one by one, and cooperated with the Xiu family to laugh at the Daoista administration.
In fact, Xiujia felt that wanting to surrender was nothing to be ridiculed. What Xiujia did today was just to take the opportunity to improve the morale of the army.
Especially for Hidemasa Hori, it is very important for him to regain his self-esteem from Masashige Daidaiji.
Seeing that the atmosphere was almost set, the Xiu family said to the samurai who had just passed on, "Bring people in."
With Xiu's order, the samurai withdrew and brought in Shan Shang Jiuzhong who was waiting outside.
Yamagami Hisata felt the unfriendly eyes of the Toyotomi army along the way, but after entering the shogunate, he found that the eyes of the daimyos in the shogunate were more contemptuous.
But he was not influenced by this group of people, and he still bowed to Xiu's family without being humble or overbearing and said, "Hamanosuke on the Waishi Yamagami has met His Royal Highness General Toyotomi."
Before the Hide family could speak, the curtain of the shogunate was raised again, and it was Ogasawara Hidetada and Sakuma Shengmasa who entered, "I'm sorry, it took me some time to go around from the west of the city, brother, I'm not late, right?"
Xiujia looked at him with a smile and said, "You came in time, just in time for a good show."
Hidemasa Ogasawara walked to Hideka and sat on the lower left side of La Liga, facing Hidemasa Hori, while Moromasa Sakuma sat opposite Nobuyuki Sanada.
After the two sat down, Hideka continued to say to Yamagami Hisadagami, "I have a rough idea of the purpose of Yamagami-sama's visit this time. I don't know what Suruga Mamoru intends to use in exchange for his life?"
"Life?" Yamagami Jiuzhong said with a shocked expression upon hearing this, "Did the right general misunderstand, my family still controls the city defense of Ninja City, and there are still 3000 sharp armor in the city.
Although a lot of water was dispatched around Ninja Castle, after the drainage, the Mizubori became a Tubori, and the land was muddy due to the loss of water. It is not easy for the Toyotomi family to attack the city. .
My lord sent me out of the city to discuss peace just because he cared about the lives of the soldiers and civilians on both sides. There is no such thing as surrender. Please, General You, please do not despise my family. "
Hisatada Yamagami's words are quite satisfactory in the peace negotiation scene. Even the weaker party in the peace talks cannot be so servile at the beginning, otherwise it is very likely to become weak and lose the right to speak in the negotiation.
But Hisakami Yamagami doesn’t know Hideka, Hideka is not that kind of traditional Japanese samurai, for him, when the income can be 100%, he will never choose the option of 90%, unless its future can bring him Come more benefits.
Just like this Ninja City, I worked hard to dig trenches and intercept the Narita people who broke through, just to kill as many defenders in the city as possible in Ninja City, and set a model for the Kanto princes.
If the Hide family only wanted to conquer Ninja Castle, when Narita Changqin had the upper hand to break through the encirclement that day, they could have encircled three and one, and deliberately let Daoji Temple Zhengfan away in the city, and there was no need to encircle this side tightly at the beginning.
The Xiu family really needs the prestige of the Narita clan to assist their rule of Kanto, but that must be a tamed Narita clan like a pug, not a prestige and powerful Narita clan.
Therefore, there is no conflict between Xiujia's reuse of the Narita clan in the future and today's weakening of the Narita clan.
In addition, not long ago, he just pointed out a way for Ishida Mitsunari to stand up, and it happened to be Kawagoe Castle where Daodaoji Masabuge served as the city's representative.
At this moment, according to the calculation of time, the embankment of Kawagoe City may have just begun to be piled up, so accepting the surrender of Daidaoji Masashige is a bit of a sell-off for Ishida Mitsunari.
Hideka was not afraid that Ishida Mitsunari would make trouble for him, but that there was no need to offend the cronies of the most powerful person in the world in the next ten years for a dying person, let alone the suggestion of attacking Kawagoe by himself.
In addition to giving power to the Kanto princes, storming Ninja Castle is also in line with Hideyoshi's arrangements for the Kanto region.
Historically, Maeda Toshiie and Uesugi Kagekatsu were asked by Hideyoshi to go back and attack Hachioji Castle because it was too easy for Hachigata Castle to persuade them to surrender.
Therefore, no matter what his Jiuzhong on the mountain said today, the Xiu family will go back, and he will conquer this Ninja City.
To sum up, no matter whether it is public or private, Daodaosi Zhengfan will probably die with Ninja this time.
"Really? I really feel that the soldiers of my family have been a little arrogant recently. Thank you, Lord Yamagami, for reminding me." Hideka smiled and said to Hisada Yamagami, "But thank you, I don't think Suruga Mori and Shinobi Castle are worthy of my presence. It's not worth spending more time with you, at least now."
"If you want peace talks, then go back first and talk about it after I have done a few tricks." After finishing speaking, the Xiu family made a gesture of invitation, which was regarded as a formal order to expel the guest.
Yamagami Jiuzhong obviously did not expect the Xiu family's attitude, he looked at the Xiu family with a surprised expression and said, "Your Highness, I came here with sincerity."
However, Xiujia said in a nonchalant manner, "I have received your 'sincerity', isn't it just to remind me to be more vigilant to you, I have already thanked you, now please go back and tell Suruga Mamoru to prepare him in advance." Such a seppuku instrument, I might as well come and take his head off his neck."
Shan Shangjiuzhong didn't know which words he had annoyed the Xiu family. Facing the threat from the Xiu family, he still resolutely said to the Xiu family, "Your Highness, you are so rude. If Your Highness wants to attack, I will attack you." The defenders of Ninja City will definitely stick to it with all their might, and they will definitely fight His Highness to the death."
Facing the threat of Yamagami Jiuchu, Hideka no longer had the heart to listen, and said to him, "You go back and bring a message to Suruga Mamoru, someone will have to pay the price for resisting His Highness Kanbai.
If he is willing to cut through seppuku, then I will spare the lives of Ninja City, otherwise, I will have to take it myself, and the sinner who will let the soldiers from both sides fight to stain Ninja City with blood is not me, but him. "
After finishing speaking, he ignored him and waved again to signal the left and right warriors to drag him down.
It wasn't until this time that Yamagami Jiuzhong realized that Hideka was not threatening him, but that he was serious.
I saw him struggling and being dragged out of the formation by the banner warriors of the Xiu family, shouting "Your Highness, General You, I came here with sincerity, please give me another chance!"
Hideka's behavior was indeed disrespectful, but the most powerful person sitting here was Hideka himself, followed by Ogasawara Hidetada and Hori Hidemasa. The three giants did not express their views, and the others naturally did not dare to express their opinions.
After Shan Shangjiuzhong was dragged down, the Xiu family presided over the military discussion.
In fact, there is nothing to say, after all, the defense zone has been divided before, but this time the Hideka transferred Ogasawara Hidetada to the north side to be in charge of the task of attacking Zouwaguo and other Chengmaru.
After all, the main attack on the west side has been promised to Sakuma Shengzheng, and the Xiu family still loves this younger brother very much, and deliberately let him get the military exploits on their side.
In addition to the allocation of artillery.
Because Maeda Toshiya had lent 2 small gold cannons before, Xiujia still has 3 large gold cannons and 12 small cannons in the formation at the moment. Xiujiang put all the large cannons in the west of the city, hoping that they can cover the main buildings such as Honmaru.
The remaining 10 small golden cannons are divided into 5 on the east side, 3 on the south side, and 2 on the north side.
In order to supplement the firepower on the west and north sides, Hideka supplemented the two iron cannon battalions in his hands to Ogasawara Hidetada and Sakuma Shengmasa respectively, while the east side he was in charge of collected iron cannons from various backup teams for use.
It can also be seen from the arrangement of the Xiu family that the main offensive and defensive lines of the Xiu family have always been on the north and west sides, with the purpose of driving the Kawagoe and Narita people to the east and south.
The Xiu family has the most powerful troops here, as long as they dare to go out of the city, they will fall into the Xiu family's siege net, and the time for the general attack is set after 3 days.
After all, Da Dao Temple's administration is not as generous as that of Qingshui Zongzhi, who is willing to sacrifice himself in exchange for the lives of the whole city.
Even in these 3 days, small movements continued, and small groups of troops were continuously sent to test the loopholes in the defense line of the siege troops, but in the end they all ended without a problem.
God seems to be taking care of Xiu's family. It hasn't rained in the past few days, and the soil in Mizubori of Ninja Castle, where the river has been drained, is gradually drying up.
On December 12th, the day of the general attack agreed by the Hideo family, the ashigaru teams of the siege party got up early under the scolding of the samurai, and began to prepare breakfast with the rising sun.
After breakfast at dawn, before the warriors led to their positions, they sat down to prepare for the siege.
Seeing such a big battle outside the city, the defenders in Shinobi City seemed to have a premonition of a decisive battle, and began to rush to their posts in a panic under the yelling of the samurai to deal with the offensive of Toyotomi's army.
When the sky was completely bright, the preparations outside the city were basically over, and the inside and outside of the city fell into a strange silence. Only the fluttering flags in the wind could dance a different dance in this atmosphere.
As the chief general, Xiujia stood on the top of Marumo Mountain, surrounded by dozens of warriors in armor, mainly the retainers of the Xiujia, and the foreign vassals had already arrived in front of their army and waited for Xiujia. The command.
Hidemasa Hori, who was in charge of attacking the city south of the city, was riding on his black horse. The murderous aura in the battlefield made this beast that had been in the battlefield a little uneasy and hoeed the ground with its feet.
Hidemasa Hori tilted his head to the east impatiently, covering the sun with his hands, wanting to read the instructions from Kiyohide's family, but it seemed that the Marumo Mountain was even quieter than the castle.
"Your Highness." Nobushige Sanada, who saw Hideka's delay in ordering, reminded softly behind Hideka, but Hideka still didn't reply.
At this moment, Xiujia was not pretending to be aggressive, but was waiting for the moment when the wind weakened.
Attacking the city under such a strong wind would be very detrimental to the attackers. Although the Xiu family said verbally that they didn't care about the lives of their soldiers, he still hoped that fewer people would die.
It seems that the heaven really favored the Xiu family. Following the Xiu family's prayers, the wind on the side of Ninja City weakened, and the flag no longer fluttered so wildly.
At this moment, Xiujia suddenly opened his eyes, waved down the armament in his hand, pointed at Ninja City in the northwest and shouted, "Siege!~"
Following Xiujia's order, the two red flags of the Marumoyama headquarters began to wave, and at the same time, the conch horn on the top of the mountain began to sound rhythmically.
Seeing the waving of the red flag and hearing the sound of the conch, Hidemasa Hori clamped his legs into the belly of the horse, let himself stand a little higher, and waved his whip to point at Ninja Castle, and ordered the Daishoji people under him to "siege the city!" !"
At the same time, the eight east and south cannons ordered by Xiu's family fired almost simultaneously, and the projectiles sprayed out from the barrels and smashed into the city defense buildings around Ninja City.
For Ogasawara Hidetada and Sakuma Yoyomasa who were in charge of attacking the city on the north and west sides, they could not hear the Conch or see the flag, and the sound of the guns was their order to attack the city.
With the sound of shouts and cannons from the east and south sides, they also issued an order to attack the city for their own army.
Different from ordinary sieges, the first movers in this siege are no longer the iron cannons, but the ashigaru holding wooden poles. The people in front are holding wooden poles to block the arrows from the top of the city. Pass the wooden planks and straw bags in front, so that the ashigaru pads behind them can move forward calmly in the mud.
Although 3 canals have been dug for drainage, the pools around Ninja Castle are of different depths, and it is impossible to completely drain the water. However, the width of the Toyotomi Army's battlefield still reached 80% of Ninja Castle, and it began to come from all directions.
At the same time, there was no idle time on the earthen bridges at the gates of the cities. This is a conventional battlefield. The iron cannons held the wooden poles and rushed forward to shoot the long-range firepower on the city gates, providing cover for the pioneers holding the wooden poles. .
They have already practiced the Japanese siege tactics countless times. They don’t need the guidance of superior samurai at all. A low-level samurai can complete his task with a few ashigaru. This may be the time when the Japanese army is most organized. Alright.
After all, Ninja Castle is just the main castle of the Narita Clan. Although its geographical location in the northern part of Musashi is very important, it may be because of the width of Mizubori, or it may be that the Narita family has insufficient funds, and there are very few iron cannons in the city.
Even if Daidaiji Masashige led people into the city, he only brought in 10 iron cannons, and the defenders were still using the old Marugi bows for defense.
From this point of view, the princes of the Kanto and Northeast are indeed much behind compared with the princes of Kinki and the Western Kingdom.
They haven't even seen a few iron cannons, and naturally they haven't seen any iron cannons used in a concentrated manner, let alone large ones.
The sound of the big cannon hit the heart of the defender of Ninja City, as if a heavy punch had hit his psychological defense line.
Just like the Xiu family used cannons to bombard Chang Zongwo's family and Qiu Ba in Kyushu, these hillbillies in Kanto were once again frightened by the cannons.
Because the ashigaru had received certain training, they were still able to maintain a little calm under the command of the samurai. The peasants who were temporarily organized were completely panicked. They threw down their weapons and left the front line, trying to avoid this terrifying Weapon attack.
The warriors had no choice but to behead a few armed peasants who were trying to escape, and only then did they slightly stop the decline.
Not to mention these peasants, even the samurai guarding the city had never seen such a weapon that was so loud that the shells could knock down the scull platform and break the screen.
In their three views, bows and arrows cannot shoot through wooden poles and screens, and even iron cannons cannot penetrate the screen with soil in the middle. It is absolutely safe to hide behind the screen, which is their greatest strength. guard of honor.
However, when an iron gunner hid behind the screen to load ammunition, the screen was shattered by the flying shells and then half of his body was shattered. The defending warriors also panicked. Soothe the mood.
The turmoil in the city was just an opportunity for the attacking side. Taking advantage of the lack of long-range firepower of the defenders, the soldiers from the previous side quickly squeezed through the shield wall, carrying the bumper like a crowned wooden door and rushing forward.
"Boom~! Boom~! Boom~!" The sound of banging against wood and hitting the wooden door was like a death knell, ringing in the hearts of the defenders.
But it was the sound of the impact of the wood that woke up the samurai who were still in a daze just now. They gathered together in groups of three or four, calling for their own ashigaru to come forward and hold the city gate to prevent the city gate from being hit. break.
Another samurai stood on the platform above the city gate, leaning out to shoot the ashigaru who was crashing into the gate below.
It's a pity that just as he shot an arrow and took away the life of an ashigaru, he was shot into a sieve by several iron cannons under the city, and his body fell from the tower involuntarily.
He sacrificed himself to slow down the progress of the Toyotomi army's siege, but after he paid the price of his life, the position of the ashigaru he had just shot to death was filled by the ashigaru behind him, who picked up the bumper and continued to hit it Door.
At the same time, the road paving on both sides of the south side of the city was in progress, and the attacking Hori army could finally use iron cannons, bows and arrows to shoot at the enemies on the screen wall.
The offensive in the south of the city progressed in an orderly manner, and Hidetada Ogasawara, who was in charge of the offensive in the north, made even faster progress.
Because the water level here is relatively deep, even after the water flow is blocked, the water in the water hole here is still not emptied, which makes Ogasawara Hidetada's plan to attack the city from both sides of the city gate like Hori Hidemasa cannot be implemented.
So he simply changed his plan and let two artillery fire to bombard Gugukou city gate.
In this era, the crown-wood gates that were not reinforced with iron sheets could not withstand the bombardment of artillery projectiles. After a few rounds of bombardment, the city gate was riddled with holes and fell tremblingly.
Following Hidetada Ogasawara's order, the Matsumotos yelled and attacked Ninja Castle from Taniguchi, becoming the first team to attack Ninja Castle.
"A master! Hiroshi Hiratsuka!"
(End of this chapter)
Hearing about samurai outside the shogunate, Daidaiji Masashige sent his vassal Yamagami Hisada to visit Hideka, Hideie smiled and said to the surrounding daimyo, "Believe it or not, it must be that Kawagoe Suruga Mamoru (Daoji Masashige) couldn't hold on." I have sent someone to beg for mercy."
"Hahahaha~" The Xiu family's joke was actually not funny, but the big names around them sold the Xiu family's face one by one, and cooperated with the Xiu family to laugh at the Daoista administration.
In fact, Xiujia felt that wanting to surrender was nothing to be ridiculed. What Xiujia did today was just to take the opportunity to improve the morale of the army.
Especially for Hidemasa Hori, it is very important for him to regain his self-esteem from Masashige Daidaiji.
Seeing that the atmosphere was almost set, the Xiu family said to the samurai who had just passed on, "Bring people in."
With Xiu's order, the samurai withdrew and brought in Shan Shang Jiuzhong who was waiting outside.
Yamagami Hisata felt the unfriendly eyes of the Toyotomi army along the way, but after entering the shogunate, he found that the eyes of the daimyos in the shogunate were more contemptuous.
But he was not influenced by this group of people, and he still bowed to Xiu's family without being humble or overbearing and said, "Hamanosuke on the Waishi Yamagami has met His Royal Highness General Toyotomi."
Before the Hide family could speak, the curtain of the shogunate was raised again, and it was Ogasawara Hidetada and Sakuma Shengmasa who entered, "I'm sorry, it took me some time to go around from the west of the city, brother, I'm not late, right?"
Xiujia looked at him with a smile and said, "You came in time, just in time for a good show."
Hidemasa Ogasawara walked to Hideka and sat on the lower left side of La Liga, facing Hidemasa Hori, while Moromasa Sakuma sat opposite Nobuyuki Sanada.
After the two sat down, Hideka continued to say to Yamagami Hisadagami, "I have a rough idea of the purpose of Yamagami-sama's visit this time. I don't know what Suruga Mamoru intends to use in exchange for his life?"
"Life?" Yamagami Jiuzhong said with a shocked expression upon hearing this, "Did the right general misunderstand, my family still controls the city defense of Ninja City, and there are still 3000 sharp armor in the city.
Although a lot of water was dispatched around Ninja Castle, after the drainage, the Mizubori became a Tubori, and the land was muddy due to the loss of water. It is not easy for the Toyotomi family to attack the city. .
My lord sent me out of the city to discuss peace just because he cared about the lives of the soldiers and civilians on both sides. There is no such thing as surrender. Please, General You, please do not despise my family. "
Hisatada Yamagami's words are quite satisfactory in the peace negotiation scene. Even the weaker party in the peace talks cannot be so servile at the beginning, otherwise it is very likely to become weak and lose the right to speak in the negotiation.
But Hisakami Yamagami doesn’t know Hideka, Hideka is not that kind of traditional Japanese samurai, for him, when the income can be 100%, he will never choose the option of 90%, unless its future can bring him Come more benefits.
Just like this Ninja City, I worked hard to dig trenches and intercept the Narita people who broke through, just to kill as many defenders in the city as possible in Ninja City, and set a model for the Kanto princes.
If the Hide family only wanted to conquer Ninja Castle, when Narita Changqin had the upper hand to break through the encirclement that day, they could have encircled three and one, and deliberately let Daoji Temple Zhengfan away in the city, and there was no need to encircle this side tightly at the beginning.
The Xiu family really needs the prestige of the Narita clan to assist their rule of Kanto, but that must be a tamed Narita clan like a pug, not a prestige and powerful Narita clan.
Therefore, there is no conflict between Xiujia's reuse of the Narita clan in the future and today's weakening of the Narita clan.
In addition, not long ago, he just pointed out a way for Ishida Mitsunari to stand up, and it happened to be Kawagoe Castle where Daodaoji Masabuge served as the city's representative.
At this moment, according to the calculation of time, the embankment of Kawagoe City may have just begun to be piled up, so accepting the surrender of Daidaoji Masashige is a bit of a sell-off for Ishida Mitsunari.
Hideka was not afraid that Ishida Mitsunari would make trouble for him, but that there was no need to offend the cronies of the most powerful person in the world in the next ten years for a dying person, let alone the suggestion of attacking Kawagoe by himself.
In addition to giving power to the Kanto princes, storming Ninja Castle is also in line with Hideyoshi's arrangements for the Kanto region.
Historically, Maeda Toshiie and Uesugi Kagekatsu were asked by Hideyoshi to go back and attack Hachioji Castle because it was too easy for Hachigata Castle to persuade them to surrender.
Therefore, no matter what his Jiuzhong on the mountain said today, the Xiu family will go back, and he will conquer this Ninja City.
To sum up, no matter whether it is public or private, Daodaosi Zhengfan will probably die with Ninja this time.
"Really? I really feel that the soldiers of my family have been a little arrogant recently. Thank you, Lord Yamagami, for reminding me." Hideka smiled and said to Hisada Yamagami, "But thank you, I don't think Suruga Mori and Shinobi Castle are worthy of my presence. It's not worth spending more time with you, at least now."
"If you want peace talks, then go back first and talk about it after I have done a few tricks." After finishing speaking, the Xiu family made a gesture of invitation, which was regarded as a formal order to expel the guest.
Yamagami Jiuzhong obviously did not expect the Xiu family's attitude, he looked at the Xiu family with a surprised expression and said, "Your Highness, I came here with sincerity."
However, Xiujia said in a nonchalant manner, "I have received your 'sincerity', isn't it just to remind me to be more vigilant to you, I have already thanked you, now please go back and tell Suruga Mamoru to prepare him in advance." Such a seppuku instrument, I might as well come and take his head off his neck."
Shan Shangjiuzhong didn't know which words he had annoyed the Xiu family. Facing the threat from the Xiu family, he still resolutely said to the Xiu family, "Your Highness, you are so rude. If Your Highness wants to attack, I will attack you." The defenders of Ninja City will definitely stick to it with all their might, and they will definitely fight His Highness to the death."
Facing the threat of Yamagami Jiuchu, Hideka no longer had the heart to listen, and said to him, "You go back and bring a message to Suruga Mamoru, someone will have to pay the price for resisting His Highness Kanbai.
If he is willing to cut through seppuku, then I will spare the lives of Ninja City, otherwise, I will have to take it myself, and the sinner who will let the soldiers from both sides fight to stain Ninja City with blood is not me, but him. "
After finishing speaking, he ignored him and waved again to signal the left and right warriors to drag him down.
It wasn't until this time that Yamagami Jiuzhong realized that Hideka was not threatening him, but that he was serious.
I saw him struggling and being dragged out of the formation by the banner warriors of the Xiu family, shouting "Your Highness, General You, I came here with sincerity, please give me another chance!"
Hideka's behavior was indeed disrespectful, but the most powerful person sitting here was Hideka himself, followed by Ogasawara Hidetada and Hori Hidemasa. The three giants did not express their views, and the others naturally did not dare to express their opinions.
After Shan Shangjiuzhong was dragged down, the Xiu family presided over the military discussion.
In fact, there is nothing to say, after all, the defense zone has been divided before, but this time the Hideka transferred Ogasawara Hidetada to the north side to be in charge of the task of attacking Zouwaguo and other Chengmaru.
After all, the main attack on the west side has been promised to Sakuma Shengzheng, and the Xiu family still loves this younger brother very much, and deliberately let him get the military exploits on their side.
In addition to the allocation of artillery.
Because Maeda Toshiya had lent 2 small gold cannons before, Xiujia still has 3 large gold cannons and 12 small cannons in the formation at the moment. Xiujiang put all the large cannons in the west of the city, hoping that they can cover the main buildings such as Honmaru.
The remaining 10 small golden cannons are divided into 5 on the east side, 3 on the south side, and 2 on the north side.
In order to supplement the firepower on the west and north sides, Hideka supplemented the two iron cannon battalions in his hands to Ogasawara Hidetada and Sakuma Shengmasa respectively, while the east side he was in charge of collected iron cannons from various backup teams for use.
It can also be seen from the arrangement of the Xiu family that the main offensive and defensive lines of the Xiu family have always been on the north and west sides, with the purpose of driving the Kawagoe and Narita people to the east and south.
The Xiu family has the most powerful troops here, as long as they dare to go out of the city, they will fall into the Xiu family's siege net, and the time for the general attack is set after 3 days.
After all, Da Dao Temple's administration is not as generous as that of Qingshui Zongzhi, who is willing to sacrifice himself in exchange for the lives of the whole city.
Even in these 3 days, small movements continued, and small groups of troops were continuously sent to test the loopholes in the defense line of the siege troops, but in the end they all ended without a problem.
God seems to be taking care of Xiu's family. It hasn't rained in the past few days, and the soil in Mizubori of Ninja Castle, where the river has been drained, is gradually drying up.
On December 12th, the day of the general attack agreed by the Hideo family, the ashigaru teams of the siege party got up early under the scolding of the samurai, and began to prepare breakfast with the rising sun.
After breakfast at dawn, before the warriors led to their positions, they sat down to prepare for the siege.
Seeing such a big battle outside the city, the defenders in Shinobi City seemed to have a premonition of a decisive battle, and began to rush to their posts in a panic under the yelling of the samurai to deal with the offensive of Toyotomi's army.
When the sky was completely bright, the preparations outside the city were basically over, and the inside and outside of the city fell into a strange silence. Only the fluttering flags in the wind could dance a different dance in this atmosphere.
As the chief general, Xiujia stood on the top of Marumo Mountain, surrounded by dozens of warriors in armor, mainly the retainers of the Xiujia, and the foreign vassals had already arrived in front of their army and waited for Xiujia. The command.
Hidemasa Hori, who was in charge of attacking the city south of the city, was riding on his black horse. The murderous aura in the battlefield made this beast that had been in the battlefield a little uneasy and hoeed the ground with its feet.
Hidemasa Hori tilted his head to the east impatiently, covering the sun with his hands, wanting to read the instructions from Kiyohide's family, but it seemed that the Marumo Mountain was even quieter than the castle.
"Your Highness." Nobushige Sanada, who saw Hideka's delay in ordering, reminded softly behind Hideka, but Hideka still didn't reply.
At this moment, Xiujia was not pretending to be aggressive, but was waiting for the moment when the wind weakened.
Attacking the city under such a strong wind would be very detrimental to the attackers. Although the Xiu family said verbally that they didn't care about the lives of their soldiers, he still hoped that fewer people would die.
It seems that the heaven really favored the Xiu family. Following the Xiu family's prayers, the wind on the side of Ninja City weakened, and the flag no longer fluttered so wildly.
At this moment, Xiujia suddenly opened his eyes, waved down the armament in his hand, pointed at Ninja City in the northwest and shouted, "Siege!~"
Following Xiujia's order, the two red flags of the Marumoyama headquarters began to wave, and at the same time, the conch horn on the top of the mountain began to sound rhythmically.
Seeing the waving of the red flag and hearing the sound of the conch, Hidemasa Hori clamped his legs into the belly of the horse, let himself stand a little higher, and waved his whip to point at Ninja Castle, and ordered the Daishoji people under him to "siege the city!" !"
At the same time, the eight east and south cannons ordered by Xiu's family fired almost simultaneously, and the projectiles sprayed out from the barrels and smashed into the city defense buildings around Ninja City.
For Ogasawara Hidetada and Sakuma Yoyomasa who were in charge of attacking the city on the north and west sides, they could not hear the Conch or see the flag, and the sound of the guns was their order to attack the city.
With the sound of shouts and cannons from the east and south sides, they also issued an order to attack the city for their own army.
Different from ordinary sieges, the first movers in this siege are no longer the iron cannons, but the ashigaru holding wooden poles. The people in front are holding wooden poles to block the arrows from the top of the city. Pass the wooden planks and straw bags in front, so that the ashigaru pads behind them can move forward calmly in the mud.
Although 3 canals have been dug for drainage, the pools around Ninja Castle are of different depths, and it is impossible to completely drain the water. However, the width of the Toyotomi Army's battlefield still reached 80% of Ninja Castle, and it began to come from all directions.
At the same time, there was no idle time on the earthen bridges at the gates of the cities. This is a conventional battlefield. The iron cannons held the wooden poles and rushed forward to shoot the long-range firepower on the city gates, providing cover for the pioneers holding the wooden poles. .
They have already practiced the Japanese siege tactics countless times. They don’t need the guidance of superior samurai at all. A low-level samurai can complete his task with a few ashigaru. This may be the time when the Japanese army is most organized. Alright.
After all, Ninja Castle is just the main castle of the Narita Clan. Although its geographical location in the northern part of Musashi is very important, it may be because of the width of Mizubori, or it may be that the Narita family has insufficient funds, and there are very few iron cannons in the city.
Even if Daidaiji Masashige led people into the city, he only brought in 10 iron cannons, and the defenders were still using the old Marugi bows for defense.
From this point of view, the princes of the Kanto and Northeast are indeed much behind compared with the princes of Kinki and the Western Kingdom.
They haven't even seen a few iron cannons, and naturally they haven't seen any iron cannons used in a concentrated manner, let alone large ones.
The sound of the big cannon hit the heart of the defender of Ninja City, as if a heavy punch had hit his psychological defense line.
Just like the Xiu family used cannons to bombard Chang Zongwo's family and Qiu Ba in Kyushu, these hillbillies in Kanto were once again frightened by the cannons.
Because the ashigaru had received certain training, they were still able to maintain a little calm under the command of the samurai. The peasants who were temporarily organized were completely panicked. They threw down their weapons and left the front line, trying to avoid this terrifying Weapon attack.
The warriors had no choice but to behead a few armed peasants who were trying to escape, and only then did they slightly stop the decline.
Not to mention these peasants, even the samurai guarding the city had never seen such a weapon that was so loud that the shells could knock down the scull platform and break the screen.
In their three views, bows and arrows cannot shoot through wooden poles and screens, and even iron cannons cannot penetrate the screen with soil in the middle. It is absolutely safe to hide behind the screen, which is their greatest strength. guard of honor.
However, when an iron gunner hid behind the screen to load ammunition, the screen was shattered by the flying shells and then half of his body was shattered. The defending warriors also panicked. Soothe the mood.
The turmoil in the city was just an opportunity for the attacking side. Taking advantage of the lack of long-range firepower of the defenders, the soldiers from the previous side quickly squeezed through the shield wall, carrying the bumper like a crowned wooden door and rushing forward.
"Boom~! Boom~! Boom~!" The sound of banging against wood and hitting the wooden door was like a death knell, ringing in the hearts of the defenders.
But it was the sound of the impact of the wood that woke up the samurai who were still in a daze just now. They gathered together in groups of three or four, calling for their own ashigaru to come forward and hold the city gate to prevent the city gate from being hit. break.
Another samurai stood on the platform above the city gate, leaning out to shoot the ashigaru who was crashing into the gate below.
It's a pity that just as he shot an arrow and took away the life of an ashigaru, he was shot into a sieve by several iron cannons under the city, and his body fell from the tower involuntarily.
He sacrificed himself to slow down the progress of the Toyotomi army's siege, but after he paid the price of his life, the position of the ashigaru he had just shot to death was filled by the ashigaru behind him, who picked up the bumper and continued to hit it Door.
At the same time, the road paving on both sides of the south side of the city was in progress, and the attacking Hori army could finally use iron cannons, bows and arrows to shoot at the enemies on the screen wall.
The offensive in the south of the city progressed in an orderly manner, and Hidetada Ogasawara, who was in charge of the offensive in the north, made even faster progress.
Because the water level here is relatively deep, even after the water flow is blocked, the water in the water hole here is still not emptied, which makes Ogasawara Hidetada's plan to attack the city from both sides of the city gate like Hori Hidemasa cannot be implemented.
So he simply changed his plan and let two artillery fire to bombard Gugukou city gate.
In this era, the crown-wood gates that were not reinforced with iron sheets could not withstand the bombardment of artillery projectiles. After a few rounds of bombardment, the city gate was riddled with holes and fell tremblingly.
Following Hidetada Ogasawara's order, the Matsumotos yelled and attacked Ninja Castle from Taniguchi, becoming the first team to attack Ninja Castle.
"A master! Hiroshi Hiratsuka!"
(End of this chapter)