Pillars of the Wu family

Yoshihiro Kira listened to their argument with an expression on his face, and thought to himself: "Exercising endurance and cultivating energy, as a king, you must be unpredictable, and you must not express your attitude at will, ask more questions, answer less, listen more and talk less... this Being a monarch is really troublesome!"

Kira's army didn't move because he didn't find a better time to move. It's useless to cross the river and attack Ohorikan on a large scale now. Thirteen thousand troops can't cross the river even in an hour. With this time, the beacon fire on the castle of Ohorikan Taiwan has been burning for a long time.

The reinforcements of the Takeda family will come earlier than the Kira Army, and the siege troops are waiting for work, and the siege troops are backed by the river, and half of the siege battle is lost before it is fought, so every time the siege becomes a result of failure, He has tried this many times, and changing the landing location again and again still has no better effect.

Don’t blame the vassals for meaningless quarrels. The vassals can only understand their thoughts with feedback. There are too few other voices in the Kira vassals. Most of the samurai are taciturn or don’t like to interrupt. Both good and bad, he prefers to hear a particular voice, even if it's wrong.

"In the final analysis, the pressure on the attacking side with the inferior force is too great. What's even more deceitful is that the superior force on the opposite side is waiting for work, and the defender is still Takeda Harunobu, who is famous for his good defense. He only wants to win by five points in the battle. In a city, people are fortresses, people are walls, favors are friends, and hatred is enemies. What he lacks most is patience and perseverance. He is first-class in the Warring States period in terms of ruthlessness and tolerance. It is too difficult to be proficient in military strategy planning. !"

You can't blame the vassals for what Yoshitoki Kira did.There has never been anyone in today's world who can completely suppress Takeda Harunobu.Murakami Yoshiki defeated the Takeda Army twice in the battle of Uedahara and the Toishi Bengli.Takeda Harunobu, who was not yet immature at the time, was hit head-on twice. Since then, Takeda Harunobu has matured rapidly, and has become more and more difficult to deal with, even more difficult than those old foxes.

However, he has a group of arrogant soldiers under his command who refuse to accept it, but take Harunobu Takeda. Nobushige Takeda is the top lieutenant general, Yutaka Sanada is the sharpest sword, and many wolf-like warriors form the indestructible foundation of the Takeda family. Uesugi Kenshin in his heyday also had nothing to do with him.

In the past, he didn't think that the governor of the Takeda family was so difficult to deal with, and he had the impression of the second Kawanakajima battle.The senses towards this Tiger of Kai are just so-so. He is famous, resourceful, thoughtful, and ruthless, but when he encounters the invincible Kira Legion, he is like a paper tiger.

But he never expected that this person not only has the above advantages, but also has an unknown advantage, that is, he is good at summing up and learning lessons. It becomes even more difficult to deal with, the most important thing is that the mind is hard to figure out, you will never guess what moves he will use to deceive you, you must always be careful of his small moves.This is very uncomfortable. [

Harunobu Takeda learned his lesson this time, and entered the set when a large formation was set up in Yawatahara waiting for Yoshiki Kira.It doesn't matter if the Kira Legion doesn't fit in. It's good for me to drag it on. As long as any of the other three roads wins, it will immediately cause a chain reaction. If he can't sit still and lead the army back to help, this will achieve his goal.

As long as Kira Yoshitoki leaves, he will definitely take away his direct reserve team. By that time, the national army left behind by Shinano will not be the opponent of Takeda Harunobu. Twenty-eight thousand troops will be able to take the Kawanakajima area within a few months. Swallow them all, and then, like dominoes, fall into a vicious circle one after another. Shinano, Ueno, and Etchu fall one after another, and their backyard will fall into the chaos of Mutsu Deba's invading army. It won't take two years. It's completely over, and when the time comes, Echigo won't use his ability to grab the territory. With his resourcefulness of Takeda Harunobu, will he still be afraid of the Ichikui mob of Echchu and the group of trash from Dewa Mutsu?As long as they use a little strategy to contact Hojo and share Echigo, the other two can be easily kicked out.

The deeper Takeda Harunobu's intentions became, the less he dared to act recklessly. At this juncture, it is meaningless to deploy 5000 people to support Ueno, Echinaka, or guard Echigo. The reinforcements will not have the effect of quantitative change. It can't solve any problems. Nagao Jinghu and Yamamoto Tokiyuki are the kind of people who don't know how to fight if they don't fight. They don't want reinforcements if they think they can withstand it.

If that's the case, Kira Yoshishi really planned to attack the city regardless of casualties, not to mention the three fortresses on Hachimangahara, it would not be a problem to fight all the way to the gate of the Takeda Army camp on Chausu Mountain, but he really didn't want to do it , deliberately asked the Kira Army to hold back all of its strength, just to wait to see any changes in the battle situation in other directions before making new changes.

According to his judgment, there is probably no problem with the joint battle of the Ueno Kingdom. Although the Echigo side is in great danger, it is not impossible to withstand it. The only hidden worry is whether there will be new problems within Echigo. Will Mutsu's invading army forcibly seize a castle before winter? If they make up their minds to attack without consequences, it is not impossible. Once the city is broken, the impact will be different.

Those two invading armies will most likely choose to stick to it, relying on the support of the walled city to plunder food and grass to survive the severe winter. In the second year, the two invading armies who do not need to cultivate will harass the spring sowing everywhere, which will cause great harm to Echigo's agriculture. , At the same time, the loss of Echigo's popular support and popularity is enormous.

While waiting impatiently, Shinano entered the most important autumn harvest period of the year. The people of Shinano in Asahiyama City gritted their teeth and watched the Takeda Army swaggeringly appoint samurai to supervise the autumn harvest in North Shinano. The Takeda family's grandiose occupation, urging the annual tribute to collect taxes such as Dongbe money, and conscripting the indigenous farmers of Kita Shinano to serve as the servants of the Takeda army.

When a group of Shinano people came to Kirayoshi, they asked the Kira Navy to take the opportunity to dispatch and burn down the grain and grass in the occupied area that was drying. It would be best to take the opportunity to burn the nearby fortress to teach them a profound lesson.

Ji Liangyishi did not agree to their request, but bluntly said that doing so would put Gu's farmers in a hurry.Forty percent of the dried grain is their annual ration.You are so happy and comfortable when you are on fire.How did those peasants survive this year without rations, and they were forced to join the Takeda army with their whole family. This means that the entire Kira family must bear the blame for all the losses just to make these people feel happy.

But he didn't do nothing. When the autumn harvest ended in late September and all the annual tribute was stored in warehouses, Kira's navy sailed upstream in a boat in the dim light of evening, attacking the earthen warehouses along the way to rob grain and grass. Kira The task of the water army is to snatch all the food and grass that can be snatched.A fire that cannot be taken away is burned, anyway, it is not to burn the food of the common people, and the peasants are optimistic when they see the actions of the Kira Navy.

For several days in a row, they attacked in the evening and came back during the day, looting and burning all the village chiefs along the Qianqu River. On the first night, under the guidance of the leading party, the Kira navy came back as an assassin, and went into the nearby fortress to kill them. Many city lords appointed by the Takeda family stopped after the fortifications around Chikuma River were strengthened to prevent assassination.

The Kira Navy also distributed many leaflets, which roughly meant to call on the wealthy land servants and farmers in the rear in the name of Shinano guardians to unite against the brutal aggression of the Takeda family, promising that they would not be held accountable for their temporary surrender.Exemption of annual tribute and taxes for all the citizens in the enemy-occupied area, as long as all the farmers participating in the boycott refuse to take the additional burden of corvee from the Takeda family.After the end of the war, the farmers in this household will be exempted from all corvee labor for three years.

Exempting the tribute from the enemy-occupied areas is a kind of favor that does not require money. Anyway, this year’s tax and service have been collected by the Takeda family. It is better to waste this favor and sell it to the farmers. Anyway, it does not cost a penny, and encourages the farmers to resist the additional payment of the Takeda family. Exemption from all corvee service for the next three years looks attractive.

You must know that no matter in ancient Japan or in ancient China, every household had to perform corvee every year without special circumstances. This kind of large-scale corvee has continued since Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall, and it was not announced until the advent of a new era more than 2000 years later. In the end, exorbitant taxes do not necessarily kill people, but corvee service is hard to say. During the period of corvee service, you may starve to death, freeze to death, die from overwork, be killed by samurai, be killed by the enemy in war, and other strange ways of death.

In the Warring States period of Japan, farmers were like plants with super tolerance or a small strong that could not be killed. They were not afraid of paying tribute when they were [-]% old. They had to pay extra money for farming, extra money for housing, and extra money for each head. In the castle town, you need to collect extra money for housing, for raising cattle, for cattle, for clothing, for sailing, for going out, you need to collect customs money, and there are various taxes such as Yamate, Kawate, Pu service, allowances, and festival materials. With endowment, these peasants like Xiaoqiang are able to survive abruptly, and they have to endure the blows of natural and man-made disasters. They really deserve to be like Xiaoqiang. [

Japan's long and narrow land has always had a small population. During the Onin Rebellion, the population was only 700 million. No matter how many wars and natural disasters there were, they would not be able to set off a large-scale peasant uprising. Exemption of debts and taxes of the year, a further step is to demand in exchange for the power to protect and invulnerable, and to give oneself greater autonomy.

So such heavy taxes and corvee can survive because their pursuit is very low. In this difficult age, it is perfect to have enough food. Living beyond the age of 30 is a great goal. It is difficult to marry a wife to carry on the family In this environment, exempting from three years of corvee is still very attractive.

There will always be people who will take the risk and give it a go. When talking about Kira Yoshi, he also said that he will definitely fight back. No matter how the generals appointed by the imperial court and the guardians of Shinano appointed by the shogunate are quite bluffing, the farmers still think it is still Kira. Besides, the Kira family has treated them very well these years, and they don’t collect general labor. In times of disaster, they will definitely be exempted from the tax of the year. It’s all because of the better life of the farmers in the past few years. His strategy of pacifying the people.

This move quickly brought trouble to the Takeda army. The work of enlisting men and women was not smooth, and more and more land servants fought against the Takeda family, but these city owners did not dare to act rashly. The guards in the Nong area cast a shadow, and everyone acted cautiously and did not dare to deal with these land attendants. In the end, even the peasants who were conscripted fled back to their hometowns overnight to seek refuge, and the conscripting of the conscripts was also disrupted. .

Takeda Nobushige's progress was smooth. Since Kira's army did not come to attack and harass him, he was simply allowed to change from a fake siege bait to a real siege division. With Sanada Yutaka as the vanguard, he led an army of [-] to easily surround Kaizu. This time, he made full preparations and sent the gold diggers who had been trained by the Takeda family for a long time.

This elite force was originally the mountain people of the Takeda family who were responsible for digging gold mines. Takeda Haru credited the tax exemption as a bait to recruit the mountain people from Kai to mine and refine gold for the Takeda family. They did not have to pay taxes or bear the burden of digging rivers and embankments General labor, you can also develop nearby farmland to farm and support yourself, so it is a very popular business.

Because of the nature of the work they are engaged in, they are specially compiled as a separate "community". They only need to go out with the Takeda army during the war, usually responsible for some engineering tasks such as setting up camps or excavating and repairing. A very powerful engineering unit.

The joining of the gold diggers made the situation of defending the city very critical. The gold diggers chose a location not far from the city, and then immediately acted to dig out a road leading to Haijin City by digging day and night. At the same time, the Takeda army resorted to a unique move, and two hundred iron cannons suddenly emerged from the bottom of the city, causing great damage to the unsuspecting defenders on the city.

The mounds dug out of the city were used by the Takeda army to pile them up below the city, as if they were planning to pile up a slope enough to pass over the city wall. During the day, there was a large-scale siege by the Takeda army, and at night, the gold diggers shoveled the soil with shovels and shovels. The sound of digging the ground inevitably shakes the morale of the army. The people of Shinano worry that a big hole will suddenly appear underground at some point, and then the warriors of the Takeda family will pour out continuously.

The lord of the city, Yoshiki Murakami, did not dare to be negligent, and hurriedly sent a letter to Asahiyama Castle for help. On the other hand, he urgently mobilized the defenders in the city to do their best to boost morale. Looking at the siege of thousands of troops by Nobushige Takeda, he lamented: "I miss you, President Shinano! The general is a fierce general. How could he have thought that he would become a general defending the city now? What a trick! I only have so many skills in defending the city in Yiqing. I can only grit my teeth and stick to it, and then do my best to obey the destiny!" (To be continued...)