Pillars of the Wu family

"So, what's the battle damage of Naito's army?"

Yubi Okochi Kunizun said: "1292 people from the Tanba Kingdom died in battle, and 569 from the Naito Army, including 416 horse-riding warriors, and 2446 were captured, including General Naito Sokatsu."

"That is to say, all the people from Tanba ran away?" Yoshitoki Kira snorted coldly, "These people are really unreliable. I'm afraid Sokatsu Naito is regretting it?"

"The Hatano family took the lead in retreating shortly after the battle, followed by the Akai family and the Yanjing family. All the powerful families fled in swarms, and each of them did not dare to pursue too deeply before returning, otherwise the number of deaths would be even higher." Yamamoto Shitoshi Xing said with a smile.

"This Hatano family is really unreliable." Ji Liangyi said with a curl of his lips: "Don't mention those silly things, is there any problem with the transportation and storage of military rations?"

"No problem! Nakao Castle and Cizhao Temple each reserve 5000 shibingliang. The roads in this area have been controlled by us. At present, there is no sign of Awaji navy entering Kamogawa, so it is very safe." The executor Yanagisawa Motomasa, when the Kira Army entered Kyoto, he voluntarily gave up his comfortable position in the Kyoto money house and ran over to serve as the military ration officer.

When a piece of paper was respectfully handed over to Kirayoshi, every 100 ashigaru would consume 20 shi of grain a month. The 1 shi of grain and grass could theoretically be enough for five months, but considering the intensity of the war, the daily grain Consumption may double or more.

"Well, how about the capture?"

Dahe Nei Guogang continued to report: "A complete set of 774 sets of meatballs, 1106 long handles, and 385 sets of armor. 223 uninjured horses. 218 war horses with minor injuries that do not affect military use. Thirty thousand shi for soldiers, and [-] other warehouses were found. The set of armor, judging from the flag finger, should be the equipment captured by the shogunate army."

Yoshishiki Kira thought for a while and said: "Return the equipment of the shogunate to the shogunate, the rations to the shogunate [-] shi, and other damaged armor and horses that can be replenished in battle are all replenished to Shigabei. Shiga has suffered a lot. Heavy. First retreat to Nijo Castle in Kyoto for rest and recuperation. Please Omi urgently send [-] ronin over to supplement the construction. The camp built by Naito Sokatsu in the middle of the mountain is in a good location and has all the equipment. We will live there!"

"Yes!" Okochi Kunizun hurriedly drafted a pleading, and when it was handed over to Kirayoshi, he would use the seal to issue it as a decree.

Dealing with a lot of dizzying military affairs, a group of staff retreated one after another. Yoshihiro Kira rubbed his temples, and then asked the head of the Ministry of Defense, "Boss, how is the situation in the Miyoshi Army?"

"The Miyoshi Army is still attacking Katsuryuji Castle. It is said that the lord of the city, Hosokawa Haruki, has sealed himself in the castle tower without leaving home. Now Katsuryuji Castle is being resisted by several generals of the Hosokawa family." Baochang Hattori After hesitating for a while, he added: "Shenglong Temple City can withstand up to five days."

"Five days? Without the support of the navy, our family can't forcefully cross the Katsura River. This is really a troublesome thing!" Kira Yoshitoki threw away his whip in annoyance, hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Order Jiugui Shigetaka, do everything possible , we must defeat the Awaji navy within five days!"

"Yes!" Hattori Baochang retreated in response, and glanced at the corner meaningfully before leaving.

All the vassals retreated, and Kira Yoshishi just lay sprawled on the tatami mats. He couldn't breathe under the pressure of heavy government affairs. He had to think every moment and always maintain the majesty of the lord. His age was already young. , If you don't want to be underestimated by your retainers, you can only pretend to be inscrutable and majestic.

"...that uncle's eyes are terrifying!"

"Huh? Why are you here?" Ji Liangyi shook his head and saw Mochizuki Chiyo sitting next to him. This time, she changed into a black night suit, with a small knife on her back, and two braids of shofar He was dizzy from looking back and forth.

"I've been here all the time! Chiyo-noe seems to have said that she has been following His Highness!" Mochizuki Chiyo-noe pointed to her chin and thought about it carefully, and repeated with a certain tone: "Chiyo-noe still remembers it very clearly, it is not wrong to say so!"

"Okay! Don't worry about this problem anymore." Ji Liangyi felt a mess, rubbed his forehead and said, "By the way, which uncle did you just mention?"

"It's the uncle who left just now! His eyes are so fierce, he's the only one in the room staring at Qiandainu!"

"Oh, you are the security chief of the conquest department! He is the leader of the Iga ninja army, of course he is amazing... Wait! You just said that he was the only one in the room staring at you?" Yoshihiro Kira stared at the idiot loli suspiciously , Seeing her nodding for granted, she felt that something was wrong, and asked again: "Then why don't other people look at you?"

"Because they can't see it!"

"Then why can Bosom Hattori see it?"

"Chiyonu doesn't know, that's why she said that uncle's eyes are so fierce!"

……

The news of the end of the Battle of Funaoka Mountain quickly spread throughout Kinki. After all, how many eyes were fixed on the movement there, and the Miyoshi family relied on the advantage of water transportation to obtain the complete battle report at the first time. In the military tent, Miyoshi Changqing glanced at every retainer with a stern face, no one dared to meet his eyes, including Miyoshi Yoshiken.

"Do you know what my family is going to say? Huh?" Miyoshi Changqing said in his soft voice, "What a group of idiots! Idiots! 5000 people were attacked in a burst, and the Chinese army collapsed at the touch of a finger. It is a disgrace to go out in person and be defeated and captured! My Miyoshi family has never experienced such a disgrace! The people of Tanba deserve to die!"

There was silence in the tent, no one dared to talk to him at this time, the furious Miyoshi Changqing was rare, only a few times such as the Battle of the Relic Temple and the Battle of Eguchi would make him furious, this was the fourth of Miyoshi Changqing The first time I got angry, the last time it was because of Shihe Yicun's death.

"It seems that we can only win Shenglongsi City as soon as possible." Miyoshi Yoshihide immediately made a decision, and encouraged Miyoshi's retainers in the account: "My lords! This is the time when my Miyoshi family's hegemony will be accomplished, and it is also the time for you to make achievements It’s time for rewards! You are looking for the master of a city or the knowledge of half a country, so it’s up to you to win it with your hands!”

"Ha! We will do our best!" The morale of the Miyoshi retainers and the people of the country was mobilized at once, and what they wanted was to know how to do and increase the title.Otherwise, someone would go all the way to Kyoto to fight together.So Miyoshi Yoshihide's encouragement is more powerful than anything else.

On the evening of July [-]th.A certain river port in the Yodo River. Ever since the Kizugawa navy attacked the Awaji navy, the life of the Awaji navy has been very difficult. The weakness of the lone army going deep and losing support has been completely exposed. The business on the waterway is different from that on the land. You can't Expecting to wipe out the enemy if they break through a certain river port, all naval forces are familiar with the waterways on the Muzu River, and they can hide in a reed bush that cannot be found at any time.

Soon there were differences within the Awaji Navy.The Awaji Navy grassroots samurai felt that it was a huge mistake to enter the inland river disputes, and that the overseas navy should not violate the established rules and enter the inland river. This trend of thinking quickly affected the decision-making of the high-level, and a group of Awaji people agreed with this statement.

The people of Awaji who hold this view think that the requirements for three constructions are too harsh. Sea routes are different from inland rivers. The characteristics of inland rivers are windy waves and small rivers with shallow channels. Instead, these large boats in inland rivers become cumbersome, unresponsive and slow to turn. Become the target ship of the inland river, and the inland river has a crushing river network.It is comparable to the most complicated jungle maze, and it is easy for unfamiliar people to get lost in it.

"Therefore. It is not a good choice to deal with the Kira navy or the Kizugawa navy." The city lord of the pig bear city in Awaji, Tatsuya Suga, is one of them, and his attitude has won the support of many Awaji samurai.

"What do you mean by this? Don't you know that the will of the main hall cannot be changed? Don't add chaos to the military discussion!" General Supervisor Xiaotian said dissatisfiedly: "Maintaining the advantage of the inland river is beneficial to my three good families. Isn't the decree of the main hall still ineffective?" is that clear?"

"Xiao Tiandian is wrong to say that! How can you say that this is adding to the chaos! We are also for the future of the Awaji Navy!" He Ji An seemed to hate General Jian Oda, and immediately retorted: "Let us fight hard at sea. My son was trapped in a small river, unable to go in and out, so he could only passively guard the Yodo River, which is only three towns wide at its widest point, this is going to kill our Awaji Navy!"

"Shut up! You old guy!" Oda picked up the teacup and threw it at him, but He Ji'an deftly dodged it, which made the old man very upset.

The old man drew out his sword and cursed: "Bastard! You are looking for death!"

Then General Oda followed suit and pulled out his sword. Seeing that the two of them were about to perform martial arts, the samurai beside him was startled, and quickly hugged the impulsive old and young couple, and called the samurai outside to take them away respectively.

The Lord of Awaji Noguchi Castle, Noguchi Normori, the adoptive father of the late Noguchi Fuyunaga, saw his old brother being abused by the lucky ones. He couldn't express his pain, so he could only shake his head and sigh: "Why? So, why is this so!"

"My lord! We have to make a decision! What should we do?" Funakoshi Keiron persuaded worriedly: "The morale of the sons and daughters of Awaji is low now. They are all complaining that they are not used to the river here, let alone the Kira Navy and the The fighting method of the Muzugawa Navy, if you continue to defend, I'm afraid that the army's morale will be messed up!"

"Yes! My lord, please make a decision!" Regardless of the attitude of the Awaji samurai, they are unwilling to continue to be conservative. For those who agree, blocking the Yodo River alone will not be able to complete the ultimate task of destroying the Kira Navy. For the opposition Generally speaking, blocking the Yodo River is a very stupid act. It is based on its own shortcomings to attack the enemy's strengths. The consecutive defeats of Uji River and Kizugawa caused the Awaji Navy to lose more than [-]% of the main force. In addition, the ships that were burned a few days ago Team, the Awaji navy has lost half of the main force.

Fuyuyasu Antaka pondered for a long time before he said cautiously: "I will contact my brother and tell you about the situation of the Awaji navy. We really shouldn't stay here, but the premise is that we must beat the Kira navy so that they have no spare energy to enter the Yodo River and continue to be active. Otherwise, if we retreat and give up Yodogawa, the Kira navy will make a comeback, let alone disturbing my brother's great cause, all previous efforts and losses will be in vain!"

Several retainers asked hesitantly: "My lord, do you mean to take the initiative to attack? But this Kira navy is too cunning, will it be too dangerous for us to attack? You must know that it is very dangerous for us to go deep into the river!"

Anzhai Dongyasu showed a mysterious smile: "Don't be afraid! After running away from the Kira navy, isn't there still Otsu Port? Do you think the Kira family will let their own family threaten Otsu Port?"

"Oh! Why didn't I think of that! My lord is such an ingenious plan!" Keirai Tamura slapped his thigh and said pleasantly: "As long as we send the main force there, both sides will have iron cannons and baked jade. The Kira Navy has fewer ships and fewer people." The disadvantages are fully revealed. It would be great if they escaped into Lake Biwa. Burn down Otsu Port, and even the two port towns of Sakamoto and Katada. By then, even if they can’t catch the Kira Navy, they can go away. Anyway, we I have made up my mind not to enter the Yodo River again, no matter how deep the hatred is, the Kira family will not be able to retaliate!"

"My lord is such an ingenious plan! I admire it!" Awaji samurai showed admiration one after another.

……

The news of the main attack of the Awaji Navy quickly reached the ears of the Kira Navy. With the monitoring point at Yodogawaguchi, every move of the Awaji Navy was within the scope of monitoring.

This means of communication is also very simple, that is, the smoke from the burning of dried cow dung is used to transmit messages.This is the beacon tower originated from the Central Plains Dynasty. It has been used as early as the Kamakura period. At the beginning, the resistance against the Mongolian invasion army relied on the beacon tower to transmit messages.

The beacon fire of the Kira family is the same as the original beacon tower. This kind of Kinki communication can only express an agreed meaning. The beacon fire lit by the surveillance of the Kira Navy has only one meaning, that is, the Awaji Navy aggressively invaded the Uji River.

When they received this news, the entire Kira Marine Corps heaved a sigh of relief. They were not afraid that the Awaji Marine Corps would come and try their best, but they were afraid that the people on the other side would never come.Time is money and life, and the task of the Kira Navy is very heavy.The sooner the Awaji water army is cleared, the more helpful it will be to the overall battle situation.

Prior to this, the sneak attack methods used were basically useless. Even if the sneak attack was successful, there would still be some price to pay, and even some losses when encountering bad luck. This kind of simple confrontation obviously caused the Kira navy to lose more. Their net worth must not be able to consume the huge Awaji Navy. The Awaji Navy still has [-] main forces and double the ship reserve in its old nest in Awaji Oshima. The Kira Navy does not have any backup support.

The sailors of Kira's house in the military meeting looked excited, and the young man Takeuchi Kuroemon, who was sitting in the last row, yelled loudly: "The Awaji sailors are attacking with all their strength! They must be crazy?"

A strong man sitting in front of him slapped him on the back of the head and yelled, "Your kid's top hair is not neatly trimmed, how can you be crazy?"

"Hahaha..." A group of warriors laughed loudly.

"You! You... Tsuji Hachirobei, why do you say that I am young? Hachihachirouemon is younger than me!" Takeuchi Kuroemon pointed diagonally at the young man who was taking pleasure in other people's misfortunes. The warriors laughed even more happily.

"Okay everyone! Listen to me first!" Kuki Shigetaka smiled and clapped his hands to signal everyone to be quiet, and then said: "The Awaji Navy hasn't figured out our strength until now, and I guess they still want to take this opportunity to attack Lake Biwa to raid our family. The plan of the confidants, so we have to teach them a lesson!"

"Yes! Teach them a lesson!" All the warriors clenched their fists and said in unison, no matter how old or young they were.

"Are the roasting and iron cannons ready?"

Yodogawa Mitsunagi nodded and said: "The preparations are complete! The three hundred iron cannons that the lord asked the Pipa House to allocate to our navy before going out into battle are all in place. My sons and daughters have long been envious of these iron lumps, and have also touched them in the past two years. A few times, the real guys, taking advantage of a few days to practice archery, selected ten within the range of shooting without missing the target to form an iron artillery team, and they can make do with it..."

"Okay, attack immediately!"

The two naval forces met at Amasegaura on the Uji River. The Awaji Navy actively sought a decisive battle, and they came prepared. The Kira Navy also had a long-term plan. Two ships, [-] ships from the Guan ship, [-] ships from the early morning, excluding the Anzhai ship, the number of the other two ships exceeded the Kira family by a large margin. This is still the Awaji navy that has been weakened many times. Know how powerful they will be when they attack with all their strength.

Uji River Amaseura is right on the sharp turn of the river. This sharp turn makes the whole river into a V-shape. The Kira Navy blocked the right side of the exit and ambushed. The army immediately blew the French conch.

"Woooooo..." The low-pitched conch was blown out with a mournful howl, and was interrupted by a muffled "bang" a moment later. A Kira samurai killed the Awaji samurai blowing the conch.

"The Awaji Navy is here! Get ready for battle!" Several warriors scattered and shouted to the fleet to paddle. Standing at the bow of the ship, the foot of the iron cannon was aimed and fired, and the sound of the iron cannon rumbled for a while , The Guan boat fired by the volley made a strange "creaking" sound. This is the first time that a powerful iron cannon has appeared. With the new gunpowder, it can easily penetrate the armor of the Guan boat.

Under the impact of the lead bullets, broken pieces of wood flew towards the body and cheeks of Awaji Suitun.For a while, the Awaji Navy in the ship suffered a devastating blow.The spurts of blood splattered everywhere.Several unlucky warriors were directly beaten into blood gourds.

"The Iron Cannon Team fires! The Archery Team shoots their arrows!" The Iron Cannon Team immediately pulled down the bow, and the Archer Zuqing picked up the arrows wrapped in tarpaulins and pulled the bows. Then several sailors took out the guns and ignited the rockets. The rockets burst out in an instant, nailing directly on the damaged ship, but in a moment, the unlucky ship turned into a blazing fire ship.

"Yes! That's it! Keep working hard!" Jiugui Jialong shouted and encouraged, and the morale of the Kira navy was boosted for a while, and dozens of Xiaozao boldly ran to the front of the fleet and shot them with simple bows and arrows, falling into chaos Awaji fleet.Once counterattacked by the opponent, immediately withdraw the fleet, and then be wiped out by the Kira navy. This kind of rogue tactic really troubled the Awaji navy.

At this time, seven or eight burning fireboats on Amaseura blocked the river, and Toyasu Antaka saw that it was impossible, and immediately ordered: "Rush over there immediately! Let the Antaka boat hit it, and suppress it with the iron artillery team and the bow and arrow team. Break up their formation!"

"Yes!" The huddled Guan boat immediately moved out of the waterway, allowing an house boat full of iron cannons and archers to stand out from the fleet. The huge hull and thick deck can effectively protect him from being attacked by rockets. At the risk of being burned, the commander on board is General Oda Shogun, Toyasu Ataka's confidant.

An Awaji samurai on board the Ataka boat asked for instructions: "The fire boat is ahead! What should we do?"

General Oda slammed the table.He yelled: "Rush over! Run them away! The teams are ordered to open fire as soon as they see the Kira Navy, shut down the boat and let Xiaozao go. Do you understand?"

"Yes!"

"Tell the fleet behind, as soon as I hit the fire boat, they will rush over with me!"

"Yes!" The warriors on the Anzhai boat quickly got busy.

Not long after, the huge Ataka ship, driven by the row of oars, began to slowly accelerate towards the fire boat. After a huge shock, the Ataka boat smoothly knocked over the fire boat blocking the way, and the black and smoky Awaji samurai covered The mouth and nose were coughing, and the outer deck of the Ataka ship was scorching hot, and the sailors were busy pushing away the obstructing fire boat with their paddles, making efforts to continue rowing.

At this time, there was a loud thunderous noise from the distance covered by the billowing fire waves and black smoke, and then the Awaji samurai on the upper deck of the Ataka ship fell into the river with blood sprayed all over his body. This sudden change caught the sailors by surprise. General Oda drew out his sword and shouted, "Don't stop! Keep paddling! Hurry up and paddle me!"

Perhaps his order worked, the sailors rowed with all their strength, and the Anzhai boat, which had been stagnant for a long time, finally began to move slowly. At this time, hundreds of burning arrows suddenly fell from the black smoke and landed on the corpses on the deck. A raging fire ignited, and General Oda quickly ordered the warriors to scoop up water to put out the fire, causing chaos on the Anzhai boat.

General Supervisor Oda shouted almost hoarsely: "Don't stop! Keep rowing! No matter what the reason is, don't stop!"

"Bang bang bang!" Another series of iron cannons roared and thundered, killing half of the Awaji samurai on the deck. Many bullets hit a deep bullet hole on the deck. If the bow deck was not thick, it would have been possible. After getting into the cabin, the rest of the warriors dared not stand in the front row, they couldn't figure out what kind of weapon they were holding that could hit the people on the Anzhai boat from such a distance.

As the Anzhai boat got out of the area of ​​the fire boat little by little, I finally saw the fleet on the opposite side clearly. I saw two Anzhai boats at the front, and there were more than a dozen Guan boats guarding the left and right. The densely packed iron cannons on the Anzhai boat were facing them, and Guan Chuan was flying towards them with hundreds of burning fireballs.

When a samurai saw this formation clearly, he shouted: "Be careful!"

"Zuoduoduo!" The crackling sound of bows and arrows fell to the ground, mixed with shrill screams, and more than a dozen unlucky ghosts jumped into the water with flames all over their bodies. General Supervisor Oda shouted and cursed to organize the iron artillery team To counterattack, because the Iron Artillery Team hides in the cabin and shoots through the shooting port. If the Ataka ship wants to counterattack, it must lay down the ship to fight back. In this process, only the bow and arrow on the upper deck can be used to fight back.

"Bastard! You used rockets! Why didn't we bring rockets!" General Supervisor Oda had no time to complain, because the iron cannon on the opposite side roared again, and the huge gunfire was accompanied by white smoke rising into the sky. The two Anzhai boats in front of us were covered in a fairyland of Yunlai. Hundreds of bullets shot through a distance of 60 meters and hit the archers on the deck who were trying to avoid it.

"Xiao Tiandian! You can't fight like this anymore! If you continue to fight like this, you guys will die!" After several rounds of concentrated fire, there were more than fifty dead bodies on the deck, and countless fell into the river. Nearly half of the ship was killed or injured, how could such a tragic blow not make the samurai of Awaji feel heartbroken.

"What?" General Oda's eyes were bloodshot, he glared at the warriors ferociously, and angrily said, "Are you afraid of death as a warrior?"

"I never intend to do that! As a warrior, it is our destiny to die in battle, just because your sons are too worthless to die!" A warrior also had red eyes, and angrily shouted: "If you continue to fight like this, you will die!" All of us died without touching a single hair of the Kira Navy, and our death is lighter than a feather, so how can we see Hirasaka's father and brother after death?"

"That's right! If we die in battle in Uji River, we can't die in such a useless way! Even if we die in battle, we can't accept this kind of shame!" General Supervisor Oda immediately shouted: "Paddle! The target opposite the Kira Army's Anzhai ship, Hit it!"

"Yes!" The warriors lowered their heads and rushed into the cabin to deliver the order. General Oda stood on the deck, looked back at the Guan boat slowly passing through the fire boat, and shouted: "Main hall! I will be here to do my best for Miyoshi's family." Already!"

A boy was lowering his head to reload, when the Anzhai boat suddenly turned to the distance and slowly accelerated, he quickly pointed to it and said, "Look! The Anzhai boat on the opposite side has started to move! Could it be that they were stunned?"

A middle-aged man kicked his ass and scolded: "Sun Sanlang! Shut your mouth! You are not allowed to speak while reloading, have you forgotten the rules of the Iron Cannon Team?"

"Cut! Obviously you also talked!" The boy named Sun Sanlang muttered in a low voice with his mouth curled up. At this moment, a warrior happened to pass by, and suddenly stopped and said, "What did you just say?"

"Ah!" Sun Sanlang was startled, and stammered, "I...I...didn't say anything!"

Seeing this, the middle-aged man who kicked Sun Sanlang just now came over and nodded and said, "Yes, my lord! Sun Sanlang didn't say anything, we can all testify!"

"I'm not trying to hold people accountable!" The warrior interrupted their nonsense impatiently, and said in a stern tone: "I didn't hear what you said just now, so repeat what you said right now?"

"I... I said that the boat over there seems to have moved, maybe he was beaten stupid." Scared, Sun Sanlang hastily repeated what he said just now.

"The Anzhai boat is moving!" The samurai pushed away a few iron artillerymen and looked into the distance. Sure enough, the Anzhai boat gradually moved towards him. His expression changed and he ran up the deck in a hurry, pushed away the samurai blocking the way, and faced The navy general who was discussing the tactics reported: "It's not good! That ship Ataka is heading towards us at full speed!"

"What!" Jiu Gui Chonglong dropped the map in his hand, walked to the high platform to look at it quickly, and then ordered with a muffled grunt: "Let the roasting team on the Guan ship attack and blow up that ship! Iron artillery team don't stop! Do it well! Suppressing firepower, we must not let them probe and counterattack!"

"Yes!" As soon as the general order was issued, several ships of the escort fleet suddenly broke away from the main force and rushed at full speed towards the Awaji Navy's Atakafune. Their actions immediately attracted the Atakafune's attention. The ringing caused the Kira family's ship to be shut down and suffered a lot of losses. (to be continued..)

ps: 7000 words for a single chapter!Please subscribe from your heart!