Chapter 21: Laying Siege Below

  After Shi Gong Yiyu left, the heavy rain continued to pour down, and the streets of Gaoyuan Town were already empty. At this time, the sound of horseshoes echoed from afar, and five cavalrymen rushed over from the direction of Gaoyuan City. The leader was a general wearing a belly wrap, with a full beard on his face, a sturdy figure, and a very rough appearance.

  The general dismounted his horse and rushed to the front of Takeda Shōryū, bowed and said: "Shōryū-sama, it's been a long time since we met, you've finally grown into a man."

  Takeda Shōryū laughed and said, "Is that so? Uncle Akizuki."

  Li Xiao sized up the man, whose name was Akiyama Nobutomo, also known as Tora no Shigetomo, from a branch of the Takeda clan called the Akiyama. The Akiyama family had long served as hereditary vassals to the Takeda house. After coming of age, Akiyama himself became a brave general under the Takeda, earning great distinction in battle and being promoted by Takeda Shingen to lead 250 cavalrymen due to his bravery in combat, earning him the nickname "Fierce Bull of the Takeda Army" from Tokugawa Ieyasu.

  In this battle of Kawanakajima, he did not lead the army to the battlefield, but as a defender of Ina County, he stayed in Takafu Castle to defend against the military forces from Mikawa and Mino.

  Takato Castle was always a direct holding of the Takeda clan, and Akatsuka Nobuhiro served as castellan but not as castle lord, his domain being located elsewhere. After Takeda Katsuyori became the castle lord, Akatsuka Nobuhiro moved to Iida Castle, which is on the border of Shinano, closer to Mikawa and Mino.

  Takeda Shōryū, Li Xiao and Yamamoto Kan no Sukē got back on their horses. The hooves trampled the uneven road surface, splashing mud and water everywhere. Takeda Shōryū suddenly whipped his horse forward, galloping away. Akiyama Nobuyuki, Li Xiao and others quickly urged their mounts to follow, while Nishimura Heizō and his ashigaru troops quickened their pace, jogging along behind the cavalry.

  The outline of Gao Yuan City became increasingly clear before Li Xiao's eyes.

  As a flatland castle, the scale of Kōrinjō is still quite large. From the exterior of Kōrinjō, it can be seen that this era's Japanese castles were constructed with a foundation of tamped earth base, on top of which was piled massive stones to prevent enemy climbing, and on top of these stone walls were built concentric circles of curved wheel (castle walls).

  The outer moat of Takatori Castle has two layers, the inner one is called Ninomaru and the outer one is called Honmaru. Under the outer moat, there is a ditch called Hori. Takatori Castle is one of the representative works of Yamamoto Kansuke's castle building style, and the empty moat outside the castle was designed as a characteristic "Three-day-old Moon Moat".

  The so-called "Three-day Moon Trench" is a trench in the shape of a crescent moon, located between two other trenches. The three trenches form a protruding semi-circle, and the soil excavated during construction is piled up behind the trench to form an earthwork that protects the defending soldiers. When the enemy attacks, they can only pass through the narrow passage on either side of the "Three-day Moon Trench", where they will be subjected to dense firepower from the defenders' bows, arrows, and cannons. Even if they manage to charge in, they will still be attacked from multiple sides by the defenders, who are protected by the earthwork formed by the three trenches. This type of fortification is called "Maru Uma De" due to its shape.

  There is also a clever use of "Kokoro Uma" (lit. corner horse) which was often used by the Hojo clan when building castles.

  This structure is somewhat similar to the protruding part design of the later European bastion fort, both of which are intended to increase casualties among enemy troops. In addition to Takatori Castle, Yamamoto Kansuke also built Shinshu Castle, Ko-Ida Castle and Hattori Castle based on this structure, all of which were built by Takeda Shingen to consolidate his rule in Shinano or to defend against the invasion of other forces.

  It's no wonder that when Li Xiao played Nobunaga's Ambition, Yamamoto Kanbei's castle-building suitability was S-level.

  Arriving at the earthen bridge on the empty moat, Takeda Shōryū and Li Xiao slowed down their horseback ride, slowly walking towards the tiger's mouth of Gao Yuan Castle. The tiger's mouth refers to the location where the curved wheel opens, and the castle gate located at the tiger's mouth is called the Dàshǒu Gate, or also known as the Zhuīshǒu Gate. In contrast, the gate on the back of the castle is called the Jiǎoshǒu Gate.

  The main gate, also known as the front gate, is very majestic. Now the main gate has been opened, and the Takeda family's samurai are standing on both sides of the passage behind the gate, waiting for the arrival of Takeda Shingen.

  Although the rain showed no signs of letting up, Takeda Shingen still maintained a dignified demeanor as the daimyo, sitting upright on his horse with his back straight, and rode along the horse path into the city. He didn't dismount until he reached the front gate of Honmaru, whereupon he entered Honmaru surrounded by Akai Terumitsu and others.

  On that day, Takeda Katsuyori and Akiyama Nobutomo took over the handover of Takafu Castle. Since Takeda Katsuyori did not have a family, Li Xiao and Yamamoto Kanetsugu moved into the Tenjin Pavilion in the Honmaru to live. The scale of the Tenjin Pavilion in Takafu Castle is relatively small, and it is actually a bit forced to call it the Tenjin Pavilion, or it would be more suitable to call it a small arrow tower like an orange. However, it's better than nothing.

  The keep is the lord's daily residence and also serves as a command center during wartime. In siege warfare, it is usually the last stronghold to fall, and its loss often means the end for the defending forces.

  Inside the main circle, apart from the tenshukaku, weapons, rations and a large water tank that had been dug in advance were also stored. This was to prepare for the possibility of being besieged by cutting off one's own water source during a siege. In the second circle, there were residences for the defending warriors, stables, and a winding horse path connecting the main gate of the main circle to the large hand gate at the foot of the mountain.

  In order to prevent the enemy from breaking through the main gate and directly attacking the main castle, various obstacles were set up on this horse path to prevent the enemy army from deploying its forces and delaying their offensive. The defending army can use the high-rise Tengoku-dana or the curved wheel narrow interval (shooting hole) outside the main castle to shoot at the enemy with iron cannons or bows and arrows.

  The design of the loopholes also reflects the meticulousness of the Japanese. The loopholes used for iron cannons and bows are different, generally speaking, the loopholes for iron cannons are triangular, circular or square, while those for arrows are rectangular, it is said that this design is because the angles and movements of bow and arrow and firearms are different when shooting.

  Now Li Xiao was observing everything about the high castle with a curious tourist. With the design of Japanese castles, it had become a purely militarized building, and before the emergence of advanced weapons such as artillery, it could easily hold out for a few days in front of an enemy's superior forces, and then wait for reinforcements.

  Someone has counted that Takeda Shingen fought more than 80 battles in his life, except for a few, they were all active attacks, and more than half of the attacking wars were also siege wars. The shortest siege war lasted only a few days, while the longest one lasted for a year and a half. Otherwise, with Takeda Shingen's great talent and strategy, as well as the elite of the Kai vassals, how could they have spent more than ten years on the Shinano campaign, with most of that time spent besieging cities?

  So it's reasonable to think that Takeda Shingen must have hated siege warfare, since he loved reading Sun Tzu's Art of War and absolutely couldn't not know the famous saying "attacking a city is inferior", but still had no choice but to do so. The reason was very simple, Shinano's castles or fortresses were just too damn numerous.

  It is often said that Takeda Shingen valued offense, so he never built a castle, and in his lifetime no enemy ever reached the foot of his home castle. The basis for this was a phrase repeated by Takeda Shingen: "People are mountains, people are castles, people are moats." Also, "A strong castle is not defensible; only a powerful group of retainers can be trusted by me, Shingen."

  But Li Xiao looked at the design of Gao Yuan Cheng and Haijin City, feeling that there was still a difference in understanding the words of Takeda Shingen. It is possible that throughout his life, no one had ever reached the foot of his residence, Tsukimi-ga-dani. However, this does not mean that his rule over Shinano was equally solid. The four castles built by Yamamoto Kansuke under the orders of Takeda Shingen were all located within the borders of Shinano.