Volume 1: Stormy Weather in Kawahara Island Chapter 10: The Enemy is Right Ahead
On the night of September 9, Li Xiao followed the Wu Tian army headquarters with 8,000 troops, crossing the Chigusa River and setting up his main camp at Yawatahara. By midnight, a fog began to rise over Yawatahara.
A great battle is approaching, Li Xiao has no intention of sleeping, leaning against the tent door with his gun across his knees, wiping his dagger in his hand, and staring into the distance. Just a few hours later, Uesugi's army will appear like wolves and tigers in the thick fog, launching a fierce attack on Takeda's main camp.
Li Xiao didn't expect that the first battle he participated in after coming to the Warring States period would be, well, using the words of that time, his debut on the battlefield, and it just so happened to be the bloodiest battle with the highest casualty rate in the history of the Warring States. This luck is really too good.
The bright moon is in the sky, it must be around this time, the large army of Uesugi's house must have been at Amakazari, wading through the icy waters of the Chikuma River like silver frost, and crossing the river.
Li Xiao cannot change this trend, he is just a butterfly fanning the winds of history, and his power is still too small. For now, all he can do is think about how to preserve his own life in tomorrow's bitter battle.
13,000 vs 8,000, the situation is not optimistic.
In the main camp of the Takeda family, torches were lit everywhere, and except for the guards, most people had fallen asleep after a night of marching. Li Xiao looked around and saw that the Takeda soldiers with ordinary names like Shinjiro and Heiro were sleeping soundly in their clothes, many without tents, sleeping under the open sky.
As soldiers of the Takeda family, most of them were not new to battles, and Shingen's numerous invasions of Shinano over the past decade had turned the Takeda army into a seasoned elite force.
September 10th, early morning at 7 o'clock. The thick fog on the Yamahara plain was getting denser. In front of Li Xiao's line of sight, visibility did not exceed 20 meters.
However, at this time, the cold wind blowing from the northeast gradually grew stronger. According to the saying that "the wind rises and the fog disperses", this vast fog would soon disperse. At present, it was still quiet in the early morning, with only the sound of strong winds blowing against each Takeda soldier's 'kasa-jirushi' (a symbol on their helmets) and the flags on their backs flapping wildly, occasionally mixed with one or two neighs from warhorses.
At this time, the soldiers of the Takeda family were having breakfast. Li Xiao had also blended into the lives of the warriors over the past few days and was doing the same as every soldier, pouring water from a bamboo tube into his dry rice and sprinkling sesame seeds and salt on top. This was a quick and simple way to eat during wartime, allowing them to respond quickly to sudden battles.
At this time, three riders from Takeda Nobusada's unit galloped across the front of the enemy lines and headed straight for their own camp. One of them had an arrow stuck in his back. Many soldiers under Nobusada saw this scene, hastily dropped the rice balls they were holding, picked up their guns and stood up.
Some people secretly guessed that the vanguard had already engaged in battle with the enemy's rear army so quickly. Before long, Li Xiao could see from afar that the mounted messengers were galloping out of Takeda Shingen's main camp and dispersing in all directions.
A centipede galloped on horseback to Takeda Nobushige and pointed forward with the hilt of his sword.
"My lord, please be assured that General Feng is preparing for battle, the enemy army is right in front of us!"
The Takeda army's camp was surrounded by earthworks. The roads, which were convenient for passage, had been blocked with heavy barricades, and outside the roads there were either hastily harvested rice fields or empty wasteland, which were used as fertilizer collection areas by farmers.
Except for a few low-lying areas with accumulated water, it is very suitable for large-scale troop operations.
Upon receiving the order to prepare for battle, the Takeda army's various units began to move into position. The sound of horses' hooves and soldiers' footsteps filled the air as they took up their pre-arranged positions to await the enemy.
In the distance, the soldiers of the Takeda clan could already hear a rustling sound like a rising tide coming from the thick fog in front of them. In the dense fog, they could also see people moving back and forth.
Suddenly, the strong wind blowing from the southeast direction turned big, and the thick fog in front of the Takeda family's soldiers was blown away, just like a window screen being rolled up. Li saw clearly that countless black-clad and black-armored soldiers were slowly advancing towards the main camp of the Takeda army, like a black line.
On the two white flags with black characters standing in the array, although they were not very clear, Li Xiao knew that one flag was written with the traditional character "Dragon" and the other was a flag with the word "Bi". And under the flag, it was Uesugi Kenshin, the Dragon of Echigo.
The sudden appearance of the Echigo army and its stern military demeanor had a profound impact on the Takeda army's officers.
In front of the Takeda army's formation, there is Shingen's heavily invested iron cannon corps. In the past, the Takeda family had neglected the new technology of firearms and suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Nagashino.
In fact, Takeda Shingen was one of the earliest daimyos in this era to emphasize and equip with iron cannons. As early as during the Shinano campaign, Takeda Shingen had already formed a considerable-sized iron cannon corps for the Warring States period. Now, the Takeda family's iron cannon squad of over 100 people stood in a line, uniformly half-kneeling and holding up their guns.
As the vanguard of the Later Army approached within range of the iron cannons, the head of the iron cannon corps swung down the naginata in his hand and let out a loud shout: "Anata!"
The iron cannon spewed out flames, and the rear army formed a neat square formation in rows. Immediately, many soldiers fell to the ground.
Like the sound of a thunderous iron cannon firing in unison, it reverberated through the skies above Yawata no hara, and was also the warning signal sent out by Takeda Shingen to the wife and daughter mountain detachment.
Takeda army's main camp is in crisis!
Oh!
After being attacked by the iron cannon, the Vietnamese army shouted in unison, and the ashigaru soldiers in the front row lowered their guns, which were standing like a dense forest above, held their guns upright, and accelerated their pace towards the Takeda army's formation.
The bloody scene in front of him made Li Xiao's heart, which was in his chest cavity, beat like a big drum, pounding loudly.
Takeda Nobushige, who had been through many battles, was very calm, and his two sons were also calm. Seeing this, Li Xiao suddenly relaxed a lot. At this time, the iron artillery team in front of the formation reloaded and fired at the rear army for the second time.
At this distance, the killing power was much greater, and more Viet Minh soldiers fell on the road of impact.
Li Xiao shook his head, apparently the Wutian Army's iron cannon usage technique didn't have any special features. It was simply a single soldier, purely loading and firing ammunition, with a slow firing speed, the time interval between the first shot and the second shot being over ten seconds.
In Japan's Sengoku period, the use of firearms in battle was exemplified by the mercenaries hired by Honno-ji, such as the Mōri ninja group and the arquebus unit led by Mōri Motonari, which developed the "yari ikada" tactic that allowed for a rate of fire of five or six shots per second.
The iron gun master who would later shake Japan, Oda Nobunaga, was trained in the "Three-Stage Shooting" iron cannon tactics through nearly a decade of battles with Honno-ji Temple, and thus had mature use in the Battle of Nagashino against the Takeda clan.
The Takeda army's iron cannon corps was about to retreat to the rear of the formation, and next they were preparing to let the ashigaru soldiers advance and engage with the Hojo army.
Li Xiao saw this and suddenly remembered another famous iron cannon battle method, so he rode his horse to the front of Takeda Nobushige and said a few words. Although Takeda Nobushige didn't quite understand Li Xiao's meaning, he still nodded and followed suit.
The vanguard of the Later Hosokawa army clashed with the Takeda ashigaru troops.
The two armies were led by low-ranking samurai who served as the heads of the ashigaru units, commanding the ashigaru soldiers composed of peasant-soldiers, advancing in rows like human walls. Many of the peasant-soldiers who had never experienced a major battle before were so frightened that their legs went soft, and the ashigaru unit heads began to scold them, swinging their taichō as if they were about to cut them down.
Apart from driving the vanguard to fight, these low-ranking warriors are the backbone of the battle. The warriors on both sides will find each other and engage in a fierce battle, while the outcome of a battle is often determined by the casualty ratio of the low-ranking warriors on both sides.
Simply from the perspective of killing, neither small soldiers nor individual brave generals can affect the overall situation of the entire battlefield.
The vanguard of the Echigo army, with black helmets and armor, formed a tight formation and charged towards Takeda Nobusada's side. The Echigo army had around 1,500-1,600 men, while Takeda Nobusada's side only had about 700 men.
Takeda Nobushige, who was standing next to Li Xiao, suddenly said with his lips tightly closed: "The enemy army's flag in front is the commander of Echigo, Kikkawa Kagetaka. You must not retreat, follow me and fight to the death."
The Takeda soldiers on both sides responded in unison.
Li Xiaowen played Taige games, and heard about the reputation of Kizaki Jingjia. He was the first general under Uesugi Kenshin, known as 'the unbeatable in the seven counties of Echigo'.
Li Xiao saw the opponent wearing a black leather armor, riding a jet-black horse, holding a four-foot-long black-tasseled long-handled spear, and the scythe-shaped "front stand" on his iconic helmet shining brightly in the morning light.
This striking and impressive outfit, it seems that all the enemies on the battlefield don't know he is Sakaki Kageya. Li Xiao secretly smiled wryly, if only he had known earlier that he would cross over, he would have brought a gun and directly shot Sakaki Kageya to death at this distance, saving so much trouble.
But if it were a cannonball, at this distance, with the accuracy of cannons in this era, Li Xiao wouldn't have any illusions about hitting it.
Li Xiao let out a long sigh, feeling extremely regretful. Meanwhile, Takeda Nobuyuki beside him thought Li Xiao was hesitant about the powerful military force of Wu State.
At this time, Kizaki Kagetaka pointed his gun and charged forward with his samurai, directly targeting Takeda Nobushige, aiming to take the head of the second-in-command of the Takeda clan.
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