The storm had lasted long enough, and an hour had passed and the rain still hadn't weakened. Fortunately, it was midsummer and the temperature was not low. Otherwise, the Ninja City warriors who were waiting for the opportunity to attack in the rain would probably be worse off than their opponents. Not to mention whether the attack would go smoothly, at least a bad cold would be inevitable.
Toyotomi Hidekatsu's army had already set up camp, and the artillery pieces were all covered tightly with leather jackets. To be fair, their movements were swift enough. It's a pity that even this could not prevent Toyotomi Hidekatsu from being furious, because although the artillery seemed safe, part of the gunpowder transported with the artillery was wet - to be precise, twenty-five carts of gunpowder were wet. Seven cars were wet.
More than 10,000 kilograms of gunpowder, several kilograms wet! Considering that the supply of saltpeter has been cut off by the Maritime Trade Alliance recently, this gunpowder is an extremely important strategic material. Moreover, even though thousands of kilograms of gunpowder are used for the big barrel, it will not survive a few rounds, but if you think about it again, you can give it to the iron artillery team. (Musketeers) That’s enough to fight a big battle!
Master Guan Bai spent a lot of money on this, and actually lost more than 30% of the money due to a storm. Even a member of the Toyotomi sect like Toyotomi Hidekatsu couldn't help but feel a little anxious.
Originally, his mother Zuiryuin hoped that he could get some more military exploits from participating in the war, so that he could persuade Guan Bai to seal him in a good place around Kinki. Unexpectedly, there was no war at Odawara Castle, and he finally found a job transporting large barrels. He was able to stuff his teeth in cold water, and was damaged by a storm. It was really bad luck.
For a moment, Toyotomi Hidekatsu even wanted to imitate Cao Cao and serve as the head of the military grain officer. It's a pity that he can only think about this idea in his head, but he can't actually do it - because at the moment, the young soldier in his army is a member of the Nagasumasa family. If Toyotomi Hideyoshi hadn't seen the Nagashu family, he was also in Ninja Castle at the moment. For my own sake, I'm afraid I won't let him do this little lotus worship.
In Japan, Xiao Hetuo is an officer affiliated with the military, and his immediate superior is the military commander, not the general who prepares a certain group after the troops are divided. The military exercises great authority and is one of the main officers in a battle.
Generally speaking, the military executive is responsible for mobilizing troops and commanding operations according to the instructions of the general of the campaign - this general is Toyotomi Hideyoshi himself in the current Odawara conquest - similar to the chief of general staff in later generations. The flag soldiers, bow soldiers, gun soldiers, soldiers' ration soldiers, and Xiaohe Tuo soldiers under the army commander all directly obeyed his command and were responsible to him, similar to the heads of various departments of the later generations.
Japan's Warring States Period was an era in which the division of labor accelerated its development. Many specialized responsibilities were divided. According to documents and records at that time, they were divided into general duties, temple duties, district inspections, ship duties, official duties, and Tibetan duties. The execution, etc., respectively manage various affairs such as construction, religion, land, maritime transportation, diplomacy, and economy. Due to the war years, of course, a special military execution was also divided to take charge of conquest matters.
Since offense and defense are related to the rise and fall of a family, military observance ranks first among all observances. According to the explanation of "The Samurai Namesho", which was written roughly in the middle and late Edo period, military conduct is to "preside over everything in the military and assume the great responsibility of the military and state." Minamoto no Tomo in "Hogen Monogatari", Taira Chiyasu in "The Rise and Fall", and Minamoto Yoshitsune in "The Tale of the Heike" were all military officials, although at that time military officials were not a permanent position, and the name It is also called Shang Junshou, but its responsibilities are not much different from those in the Warring States Period.
It is particularly worth mentioning that the "Asakura Takakage Regulations" formulated by the Asakura clan, a daimyo of the Warring States Period in Echizen, made special provisions for the military to perform this duty. According to regulations, the army is selected from among the capable generals. When they go into battle, they are responsible for military deployment and help the general command the entire army.
A job similar to the military service is the samurai service. This name appears in the materials of the Hojo clan and the Takeda clan, and also appears in the "Samurai Name Codex". According to various records, in different families, if there are soldiers who perform this duty, there are no records of warriors who perform it, and vice versa. It can be inferred from this that the so-called martial arts practice is actually a different name for military practice.
Among the followers of the Toyotomi family, the one with the highest status is Ishida Mitsunari. However, this time Toyotomi Hideyoshi had already made up his mind to let Ishida Mitsunari directly receive some military honors, so he was assigned to take charge of his own affairs and did not do military duties.
As a result, the military execution fell on Chang Shuzheng's family. However, there was actually no real war in Odawara Castle, so Toyotomi Hideyoshi assigned Nagasuke Masaika to Ishida Mitsunari, and temporarily served as Ishida Mitsunari's deputy as a military officer. Needless to say, he was favored by Ishida Mitsunari. .
The names of the commanders of the combat arms such as the bow commander and the spear commander under the military commander are very straightforward, so there is no need to say more. The ones worthy of a few words are the commanders of the logistics departments such as the Xiaohetuo commander and the soldier ration commander.
As the scale of the war expanded and the war lasted longer in the late Warring States period, the transportation and storage of supplies such as rations, bows, arrows, ammunition, and clothing for the soldiers participating in the war became increasingly important, and could even determine the outcome of the war. Degree. Accordingly, a series of positions with the responsibility of providing strong logistical support for the war were established and gradually improved and matured.
The main responsibility of Xiao Hetuo is the transportation of logistics materials. As long as various materials can be transported from the rear to the front, the mission has been completed. Of course, this job is not an easy one. The farmers who are recruited as migrant workers often run away en masse. If the general supplies cannot be delivered to the battlefield in time, if it has a serious impact on the war situation or even leads to defeat, they may lose their heads. .
As the name suggests, the military ration leader is responsible for the collection, storage, and maintenance and management of military rations. Naturally, the responsibilities are also very important. In addition, some families also have military depots, such as the Takeda family, Go-Hojo family, etc. However, the most famous military depot in the history of Japan's late Warring States Period was the Nagashogashi family under Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In many battles before this battle, Changshu Zhengjia actually did this.
Toyotomi Hidekatsu didn't dare to kill the people under the Nagasushi Masa family, so he had to curse and settle the matter, and he just kept his anger out.
That little Hetuo was also a smart man. At first he just obeyed the instructions and didn't look for any objective reasons. After Toyotomi Hidekatsu finished scolding him, he pretended to be careful and explained to Toyotomi Hidekatsu that although the gunpowder was damp, it only needed to be dried because it was not used by the iron artillery team but by the large tube team.
In fact, although the effectiveness of this method will be slightly worse than when it is intact, compared with iron cannons, the requirements for gunpowder in the large barrel are not so stringent, and it can basically still be used.
This explanation really made Toyotomi Hidekatsu overjoyed, and he completely lost his bad feeling towards the little Hetuo who listened to the instructions honestly and didn't "explain the details" until the end.
Toyotomi Hidekatsu didn't have much money, and he didn't even think about losing face. He turned around and praised him a few more times, and then ordered: "Seeing that the rain won't stop for a while, Your Highness will arrange for the baking of gunpowder." ...but be careful not to start burning."
The habits of the Japanese at this time were different from those of other dynasties in Chinese history. As long as they were a samurai, they could address him as "Your Highness." Of course, this little Hetuo was also a samurai, so Toyotomi Hidekatsu also called him His Highness.
Xiao Hetuo then went to arrange for the damp gunpowder to be baked. At this time, he certainly did not expect that Toyotomi Hidekatsu was really a crow's mouth, and his words "Don't start burning" turned out to be a prophecy—— Of course, it wasn't their own people who started the fire.
In the woods at the foot of the hill, several people gathered around a small clearing that had obviously just been scraped out with a knife to discuss military affairs.
A leather rain curtain is supported on this small open space. The soil in the open space is used as a drawing board. Simply use the tip of a knife to draw a topographic map. It is exactly the situation of Toyotomi Hidekatsu's temporary garrison, and the temporary temporary monomiban head Sakemaki Renegade is explaining the current situation of the Toyotomi family's Otsutsuki team.
At this time, Sakemaki Azuma seemed to have explained it almost. Kafihime, who was wearing Sakura's black belly roll, had bright eyes and asked with certainty: "Are they really baking a lot of gunpowder?"
"Yes, Princess Kai, I can see it clearly, there is no mistake." Shumaki Renegao said confidently.
"That's great, God is really helping me!" Kaiji smiled, turned to look at the hill, took a deep breath and said: "Your Highness Shimaki, please continue to monitor and wait for them to dry the first batch of gunpowder. Let me know immediately when it happens.”
Sakemaki Renegai immediately agreed, but Shibasaki Izumi was a little confused and asked: "Why does it have to be when their first batch of gunpowder is dried?"
Kafiji smiled and said: "The enemy has a large number of people, and there must be many people to bake gunpowder. The first batch of dried gunpowder is enough for us to blow up their largest eighteen large barrels. "
"Oh, that's it." Shibazaki Izumi nodded, but unexpectedly thought of something, and quickly asked again: "But Princess Kai, why do we have to use their dried gunpowder? More of their gunpowder has not been exposed to the rain in the first place. , wouldn’t it be safer to use?”
"Of course this is true in terms of the power of gunpowder alone, but since the enemy has so many people, how can the gunpowder not be defended by a large army? We only have two hundred people. Even if we can fight one against ten, we can't sneak in and then ignore everything. to grab these well-defended gunpowder.
Since the damp gunpowder needs to be dried, it must be pulled aside separately to avoid burning all the gunpowder in case of fire. In this way, the defensive force on the side where the damp gunpowder is roasting will inevitably be empty. As long as we muddy the water first, we can fish in troubled waters, calmly grab the gunpowder, and then blow up the opponent's big barrel. "
Shibasaki Izumi suddenly understood, nodded, and said thoughtfully: "Then we have to hit him harder for the first time. If we fail to stun Toyotomi Hidekatsu at once, it will not be so easy when we grab the gunpowder to blow up the barrel."
"That's exactly the truth, but you don't have to worry too much, Shibazaki-dono." Kaiji smiled slightly and said: "The enemy distribution map just discovered by Shibazaki-dono has shown that the other party's Xiao Hetuo is a cautious person. Gunpowder is stored separately in carts to prevent it from being completely destroyed in the event of a fire.
And this means that as long as we arrange the most powerful shooters later to shoot fire arrows at every gunpowder storage place, it is very likely that many fires will be ignited in their camp, and it may even be caused by an explosion. . In this way, the chance of the enemy's entire army being in chaos is very high. "
Shibasaki Izumi was greatly impressed when he heard this. He bowed and said: "I heard that the youngest of the Four Tokugawa Four Kings, 'Aka Yaksha', Ii Naomasa's adoptive mother Ii Naotora's military skills are not inferior to those of the imperial family. I deeply regret that Princess Kai was born." It’s too late, otherwise I would definitely be able to compete with her!”
Of course Ii Naotora is very powerful. She is not only a female samurai, she is even a female daimyo. Her childhood name is Master Jiro - "Master Jiro" is obviously a boy's childhood name, but she was given this childhood name because there is no direct male in her family, so He was raised and taught as a boy from an early age.
Later, when the head of the family became absent, Master Jiro returned to secular life and succeeded the Ii family governor in the name of Ii Naotora's son. Due to space limitations, there is no need to elaborate on her other deeds. Just say that she trained Naomasa Ii, one of the Four Tokugawa Kings, and you will know how good she is.
You know, Ii Naomasa is a whole generation younger than the other three kings of the Tokugawa family. He is a real fierce man who can create Ii Akabi for Tokugawa Ieyasu - Ii Akabi is the elder of the Takeda family who was eaten by Tokugawa Ieyasu. After the loss, he kept thinking about the elite cavalry he wanted to build, but for a long time Reedikawa Ieyasu couldn't find a suitable candidate to form this elite until Naomasa Ii appeared.
Naomasa Ii did indeed live up to Ieyasu's expectations and trained Ii Akabi into the most powerful army of the Tokugawa family. Until Tokugawa Ieyasu conquered the world, Ii Akabi almost always existed as the core force directly under Ieyasu, and was often defeated by Ieyasu. Invest in the most critical battles and use them as the "power that determines the tripod."
Such an awesome Ii Naomasa was taught by Ii Naotora step by step from a young age - not only the art of war, but also martial arts were taught by her, which shows that Ii Naotora's strength is no joke. Because of this legendary color, one of the later Japanese games "Nobunaga's Ambition" series even had a period script specifically for Ii Naotora, and the script was called "Jiro Master Naotora".
Faced with the compliments of Shibazaki Izumi, a fierce general like Shibasaki, Kaiji was startled for a moment, then shook her head and said: "How can I compare to Ii-senpai? Besides, she has been taught as a household supervisor since she was a child, and I am just... because of my father. It’s just a matter of taking orders in the face of danger when the Lord is not around.”
Shibazaki Izumi was about to say something else, but suddenly he heard three birdsong not far away, and his expression turned serious. Kaiji reacted faster than him. She had already stood up, holding the hilt of the Nakiri sword with her right hand, and shouted: "It's Your Highness Sakemaki, the time has come!"
"Qiang!" There was a sound, and the moment Shibasaki Izumi stood up, Kaiji still drew the sword in his hand, raised it high, and shouted with a slightly suppressed voice: "Samurai of the Narita family, the time has come to show off our martial name. ! Gentlemen - follow me to defeat Xiu Sheng'er!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the slim black and red figure rushed out like lightning.
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Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Yun Fuyue Yu" and "Cao Mianzi" for their monthly support, thank you!
