Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 358 The Battle of South Kyushu ([-])
With the fall of Toyama Castle, the fighting between the Shimadzu and Toyotomi armies came to an end for the time being.

Hideie moved the main formation to Fukuyama Castle, commanded the battle against Tsumure Castle himself, and handed over the battle of Saeki Castle to Takakage Kobayakawa.

Fukuyama Castle experienced the fire of Toyohisa Shimadzu yesterday, and the original wooden structure has been damaged. It is said that it is a city, rather than a position composed of multiple platforms with different steps.

Fortunately, the definition of a city in this era is very relaxed. After a day and a night of preparations after the fire was extinguished, the fortifications here have basically been re-established.

In the early morning of the second day, the main force of Beizhong, led by Shimizu Keiji, Hanafang Masanari, and Zhuang Zhiqing, attacked Tomure Castle amidst the sound of rumbling cannons.

Due to the high-density artillery bombardment of the city wall yesterday, two artillery pieces in the artillery battalion had drum problems. In order to ensure safety, they had to temporarily turn off the fire, and one of them was a big gold cannon.

This was also the most common problem when using copper-cast guns at that time. Copper had strong ductility and insufficient rigidity. When the gunpowder exploded and ejected the projectile, it would also give a reaction force to the gun barrel.

Over time, the barrel will deform outward, and if it is not treated, it is very likely that the bore will explode.

Of course, this is not to say that the cannon is so useless. In fact, there were many ways to deal with this situation in Europe at that time. The simplest method was to burn the cannon body red and reshape it with iron hoops. The reason why the side suddenly "fat up".

It’s just that professional craftsmen and tools are needed for all of this. The two cannons can only be temporarily stored and sent back to Okayama for repair after the war is over.

Although there are two less artillery pieces today, Yu Xiduo still has full confidence in today's war.

Following Hideka's order, Hanabang Masanari commanded the head office to take the lead, and slowly walked towards the gate of Shinomaru under the Tsumurei Castle with the wooden bunk and bamboo bundles.

As the war has progressed to this point, how to attack the city, Yuxi's family has already had its own set of rules and regulations, and there is no need for the Xiu family to command. All the captains and mid-level generals under his command can properly conduct command.

It's just that today's siege battle is destined to be different.

As the sergeant entered within 50 steps, the bow and arrow at the top of the city began to pour arrow feathers towards the Yuxiduo phalanx below the city.

This is a very routine operation. There are several rows of wooden traps and bamboo bundles in front of the queue as protection, and the ashigaru in the back lower their heads one after another, and use the iron-clad bamboo hat above their heads to resist the flying arrows.

Occasionally, a few ashigaru were shot at their weak positions by arrows across the air, and before they fell to the ground, their crumbling bodies were caught by their companions behind, dragging them out of the front line, and the ashigaru behind them automatically filled up Two vacancies.

When the procession reached the front of Tubori, Ukita's wooden traps and bamboo bundles had just been put down, and before they had time to adjust their positions, the iron cannons at the top of the city rang out in unison.

The iron bullets flying from the top of Tomurei City "cracked" on the wooden bunk and the bamboo bundles. Since the back of the wooden bunk and the bamboo bundles had not had time to support them, the armor was hit to the ground by the iron bullets fired by the iron cannons. The ashigaru behind him were collectively called, and more than ten people fell down.

The wounded soldiers wailed and were dragged down, and the ashigaru in the rear filled up under the command of the samurai, and took advantage of the gap between the iron cannons to reload the fortifications at the end.

With the popularity of iron cannons in Japan, the number of wounded and dead on the battlefield continued to increase. Ukita, who was the attacking side, had long been familiar with such a scene on the defensive side.

Even when Toyohisa Shimadzu stormed Fukuyama Castle a few days ago, the seesaw between Shimadzu and Ukita was like this. Only when the troops rushed up to fight hand-to-hand was the siege battle really started.

However, the siege of Huafang Zhengcheng and others today was not destined to be so easy. Just when their forward position had just been set up, several loud bangs of "boom, boom, boom" sounded from Tsumurei Castle.

With the loud noise, several black spherical objects flew out from the top of the city. For some unknown reason, they flew out from the top of the city, but the targets they rushed to were scattered and inaccurate at all, even A projectile directly hit the position of Demaru's own people in Tsumure Castle.

Although this round of shooting has some hips, the scene of shooting twenty or thirty stone fire arrows at once is really grand. Even if the bullets fly out and there is no aim at all, the density is still enough to cover Hana Fang Zhengcheng's head office.

Each of these projectiles weighs more than ten kilograms, which is dozens of times that of ordinary iron cannon projectiles. Many ashigaru obviously lowered their heads and used array hats to resist the weak arrows and iron cannons flying from the top of the city. After a while, they were killed. The gigantic iron bullet hit it dead.

There were also iron bullets hitting the bamboo bundles, directly piercing through the whole bundle of bamboo bundles, smashing the heads of the iron cannons who were loading the projectiles behind them, and the potential energy has not weakened after that, all kinds of hits made another iron cannon behind. On Pao Ashgaru's body, his internal organs were smashed and he died.

Do you think this is over?

Fragments of the bamboo bundles smashed by the iron bullets were flying in all directions, and some fragments were stuck in the exposed parts of the Ashgaru beside him, and several people were injured/dead and left the field.

Perhaps seeing the performance of Ishihaya in front of the position, the morale of the Shimadzu Army on Tsumure Castle has soared. Yesterday, I could only watch Saiki Castle being bombed. I have no choice but to let the Toyotomi Army under the mountain try it suffering.

As the commander, Toyohisa Shimadzu excitedly ordered, "Just fire the cannons like this, point the stone fire arrows and iron cannons at the enemy's front position, and after the stone fire arrows smash the first wooden bamboo bundle, the iron cannons quickly shoot and kill the enemy. "

The heads of the iron artillery group and the stone fire arrow group that "Hai" received the order adjusted according to Shimadzu Toyohisa's order, and the second round of bombardment hit the head office soon after.

After all, it is a reserve team that has just been reorganized and trained. The head office can calmly deal with iron cannons and bows and arrows, but when the opponent also has a "big barrel", it seems a little at a loss.

Originally planning to sit firmly in the middle army in Toyama City, watching the showhouse who was performing in the greenhouse, he frowned when he heard the loud noise of the wrong sound. He was a little surprised why the big tubes of his family fired at such a short interval.

"What's going on, what is Endo Toshitsu doing, let him be careful today, don't shoot such a high-intensity cannon, he really doesn't know how to cherish it since it's not his own artillery."

Hideka turned his head and ordered to Nobushige Sanada next to him, "Go, tell Endo Toshitsutsu to cherish the power of the cannon. There are still many places where cannons are needed."

But after giving the order, seeing that Nobushige Sanada still didn't move, he turned to look at him with some doubts, "What? Didn't you hear my order? Why didn't you pass the order."

At this moment, the sound of the second round of cannon came, and Sanada Nobushige said to Hideo after hearing it, "His Royal Highness, listen carefully, it seems that it is not the sound of the artillery from the main family, judging from the density, it seems that there are dozens of cannons firing together." , I don’t have so many artillery pieces in my family.”

After hearing this, Xiujia stood up and listened carefully to the sound of the guns. He was indeed different from Yu Xijia.

There are not many artillery pieces in Yuxi’s family, but every time they fire a volley, the sound of the artillery is relatively neat, and basically all 1 artillery pieces are fired within an error of 3~9 seconds.

But now the sound of the cannon is intermittent and disorderly, and the sound is sharper than the copper cannon.

Discovering the problem, the Xiu family couldn't sit still any longer, and ordered someone to pull back the curtain of the main formation and walked out, just in time to see the sound of cannons and the smoke from the explosion of the cannons on the top of the city.

"Is this Shimadzu's cannon?" Hideka murmured with some doubts.

"One, two,. Ten. Eighteen" Sanada Nobushige and Anayama Nobutada, who were following Hideya, counted the number of artillery pieces on the opposite side according to the gunpowder bursting out from the opposite side.
Just when the two of them were in shock, Xin Shui also pointed to Hana Fang Zhengcheng's army formation and interrupted: "Your Highness, Zhimo's army has shaken!"

Everyone looked at him after hearing about it, and sure enough, as Shimizu Nobuya said, Hanabou Masanari's army has shown signs of retreating. After the soldiers on the front line were defeated by Ishihaya, there was no Ashgaru from the rear to fill the gap for a long time. It is impossible to line up with the city head at all.

The senior samurai who followed Xiujia out of the shogunate were all whispering aside, discussing how long their army could last under such circumstances.

Since the ashigaru from the first line of fire in front of the formation can't fail to fill up, let alone kill the Shimadzu soldiers at the top of the city, the continued consumption is just that Ukita was named by the defenders of Tsumure Castle for no reason.

"Let Zhimo defend the retreat. If this stalemate continues, it will only be a waste of soldiers." Seeing the decline of the head office of Hanfang Zhengcheng, the Xiu family decisively issued an order to retreat.

This is also the helpless order of the Xiu family. After all, instead of watching the organization of the headquarter's equipment collapse and affect the morale of the whole army, it is better to stop and issue the order to withdraw troops on their own, and fight again after regrouping.

Seeing the retreat of the Toyotomi army, the Shimadzu army was very excited. The outer maru of Saiki Castle, which was several times stronger than Toyotomi Castle, was broken in one day by the Toyotomi army's offensive. Now it can only rely on the Honmaru. The city actually succeeded in repelling Toyotomi's army.

The retreat of Toyotomi's army also made Yoshihiro Shimadzu more determined to use stone fire arrows to confront Toyotomi.

"Why do you want to retire? I can fight again!"

On the side of Fukuyama City, before people returned to the formation, the voice of Huafang Zhengcheng had already come in, directly breaking the serious atmosphere in the formation.

After seeing the lieutenant general's Xiu's house, Huafang Zhengcheng calmed down his arrogance, went to the Xiu's house, knelt down and begged the Xiu's family, "Please give me another chance, my lord. Tsumurei Castle."

The Xiu family ignored his request, and instead asked him, "How much did the head office lose in the morning battle?"

"."

"Tell me, what can't be said, even if you don't say it, I will naturally ask others later."

Under the strict request of the Xiu family, Huafang Zhengcheng frowned, and said with difficulty, "So far, 78 people have been killed, 56 people have been seriously injured, and 166 people have been slightly injured."

After finishing speaking, perhaps because he was afraid that his main attacking task would be taken away, Hanafang Zhengcheng said to Xiujia very excitedly, "Please give me another chance, my lord, so that the head office can fight again."

At this moment, Gang Lisheng, who was sitting next to Xiujia, interrupted and asked, "How much did the samurai lose?"

"Samurai?" Huafang Zhengcheng replied after thinking for a while, "Six or seven were killed, and about ten were injured. I haven't counted the specifics yet."

Hearing that the samurai had not lost much, everyone in the formation breathed a sigh of relief. After all, although the military system has been reformed, the samurai has always been the soul of the army, and it is the embodiment of the combat effectiveness of an army.

Now the headquarter prepares samurai with little loss, as long as they rest for a few days and wait for their morale to recover, they will be able to fight again.

Everyone turned their attention to Xiujia again. After all, he was the chief general, and he had to decide whether to attack or not.

"Papa.pa..." The folding fan in Xiujia's hand slapped rhythmically in his palm, and he kept calculating the risks and benefits in his mind.

Seeing that the Xiu family was silent, Akashi Jingqin, who was sitting at the Xiu family's attack, asked Hanabang Masanari first, "Matashichiro, you said that you will definitely be able to capture Tsumure Castle next time, so you have a way to deal with the continuous firing from the top of the castle?" Are the cannons?"

".I." Hearing Akashi Jingqin's question, the flower house was at a loss for words and couldn't answer.

His lack of words instantly extinguished the fire of everyone in the formation who had just kindled a glimmer of hope. Since they had no way to attack the city, continuing to send troops up was just a tactic to add fuel. No wonder the lord did not respond.

"Period the siege." After a while, Xiu Jia who was sitting in the chief seat finally spoke.

As soon as Xiujia opened his mouth, he attracted everyone's attention, waiting for him to issue further orders.

Hideka looked at Otomo Yoshitomo and asked, "His Royal Highness Otomo Yoshitomo, Bungo is your territory, do you know if there are any weak spots in Tsumurei Castle that can be used for a surprise attack?"

Otomogi Town Bungo's local general, attached to Toyotomi Hidecho's Southern Kyushu Corps, due to years of fighting in the territory and the loss of the indivisible territory, this battle can only lead 6500 people to participate in the battle.

At the same time, as a supporting general, he was the only one in Otomo's family and took two elders to participate in the military discussion. One of the elders, Shibata Reineng, replied, "Taro Saeki (Saeki Yusada) is in the army, and Tsumure Castle was once owned by the Saiki family. If you close the city, you can call him in for questioning."

To say that this Shibata Reineng is also a legend, Shibata's original surname is the Tachibana family, but he was born in Notsuin, a native of Bungo Ono County under the command of Otomo's family.

As the second son, Shibata Reino is not qualified to inherit the family business, but because of his outstanding diplomacy and ability to handle government affairs, he is appreciated by Otomo Zonglin and Otomo Yoshitomo's father and son, and is constantly promoted.

After that, because he also made many achievements in the battle against the Akizuki and other daimyos, in November of the 12th year of Tensho (1584), he was allowed to use the apricot leaf pattern (the family pattern used by the Otomo clan), and was approved as the Otomo clan.

And his elder brother, Shibata Shaoan, was exceptionally promoted to be the castle guard of Asahidake Castle on the border of Hyuga border in Bungo country because of the great loss of power of the Otomo family after the Battle of Otogawa, and he was fully responsible for the border defense tasks.

This is actually Zuo Qian's promotion, but in Shibata Shaoan's view, as his elder brother, he was sent to the edge of the border to face Shimadzu's edge, while his younger brother was reused in the temple, so he felt resentful.

Not long after, he betrayed the Otomo clan and joined the Shimadzu clan. He cooperated with the family leader Doji Tsuna who was captured by the Hide family before to attack Bungo.

However, after his elder brother Shibata Shaoan betrayed him, his younger brother Shibata Reineng was still appointed by Otomo's family to serve as the official in the government, fully responsible for the domestic affairs.

In history, it was also because the Shimadzu family soldiers besieged Dansheng Island City, and Otomo Zonglin became suspicious of him because his brother Shaoan betrayed Otomo's family after he was at the end of the road.

Li Neng, who was ashamed of being suspected, finally called all the men in the family together to launch a desperate charge against the Shimadzu family under the castle to prove his loyalty. In the end, all 13 men over the age of 26 in the whole family were killed in battle. .

After hearing the news, Otomo Zonglin burst into tears, exclaimed loudly and regretted it, and apologized to Shibata Reineng.

(End of this chapter)