Volume 1: Stormy Weather in Kawajima Chapter 64: Iron Cannon Firing in Succession

  "Lord, although the war strength of the Uesugi clan is somewhat inferior, the number of iron cannons in the Takeda army is also astonishing." Straightly said to Uesugi Kenshin.

  "This will be a fierce battle, and even if our army wins, there will be heavy casualties," Uesugi Kenshin said after a moment of contemplation. "Order the armies of the various daimyos of Kozuke to retreat and regroup, and have the Nagano family take their place as the second unit."

  The disturbance of the Ueno clan's foot soldiers could not be suppressed for a while. Although in this era, all daimyos began to heavily equip their troops with iron cannons, after all, iron cannons were still new and unfamiliar to most people. There were few samurai in the Ueno clan's formation, mostly newly recruited peasant soldiers, whose discipline and perseverance were naturally not high.

  The Takeda army's nearly hundred iron cannons fired in unison, a spectacle that shook them.

  In feudal times, a unit that suffered more than 10% casualties would quickly collapse and be on the verge of disintegration.

  The first attack was repelled, and the Nagano family, as the second unit, took on the task of breaking through. Since the width of the slope guarded by the Takeda family was limited, the Nagano army formed nine ashigaru (foot soldiers) long spears in a square formation, three rows deep, and the ashigaru soldiers held their guns and charged up the slope.

  Choosing to defend on this hillside was a pre-arranged plan by Yamamoto Kansuke, which aimed to utilize the narrow terrain here to prevent the Uesugi Nagao allied forces from deploying their superior numbers.

  At this time, Takeda Shingen's iron cannon team had already reloaded the ammunition and faced the Nagano army's advance, firing two volleys of gunfire again.

  As the smoke of gunfire dispersed, the head of the Iron Cannon Corps assessed the shooting results. The front row of Nagano soldiers fell in a piece, but compared to the previous Ueno clan's victory, the Nagano army maintained a fairly intact formation against the iron cannon's volley.

  "Oh!"

  The Nagano army's ashigaru immediately put down their long guns and began charging towards the Takeda army formation on the mountain slope.

  Taking advantage of the momentary lull as the Iron Cannon Troop was reloading, from behind the shield wall, the Light Archery Unit began to nock and fire in unison. When the Light Gunner Unit charged forward with a rush, both hands were holding guns, so there was no shield available to deflect arrows, and most of the armor on their bodies was made of bamboo, mostly inferior to the abdominal wraps and torso armor worn by warriors.

  So when the arrows came flying in, the foot soldiers could only press their heads down low and hope that the iron-plated helmets on top of their heads could withstand one or two hits.

  On the Takeda army's position, the sound of bowstrings vibrating and arrows piercing through the air filled the air.

  The rain of arrows was a disaster for the Nagano army, which was climbing the mountain, and they suffered heavy losses. Meanwhile, the archers of the same Nagano family were unable to shoot accurately due to the angle of the slope, and more than half of the arrows shot were blocked by the shield wall in front of the Takeda army.

  This shield, with a central part made of bamboo and wrapped in straw on the outside, can also withstand the shooting of iron cannons.

  The Nagano troops were advancing with difficulty under the rain of arrows, and they had already charged to a position only thirty meters away from the Takeda army's formation. At this moment, the Takeda army's iron cannon team completed their second loading and fired another two rounds of volley fire, and dozens of Nagano soldiers who were hit fell down the mountain rolling and tumbling.

  After completing the two shooting tasks, the Iron Cannon Team retreated directly from both sides of the dug trench to the rear of their own position. The trenches in front of the position became a double ditch to block the enemy's advance.

  Seeing the heavy casualties inflicted on Nagano's army, Takeda Shoryu smiled and said to Li Xiaoyan: "Li Xiao, your design of the trenches is really clever. From now on, our Takeda army must dig two such ditches in front of our formation whenever we go into battle."

  Li Xiaowei smiled slightly. Such a trench is quite good for defense, but it would hinder their own people if they were to attack.

  "Thanks to Your Highness, don't be impatient, the best part of the play is yet to come."

  At this time, the Ueno clan at the foot of the mountain had already integrated the scattered ashigaru and reorganized them into an array to follow the Nagano army up the mountain.

  The Nagano ashigaru, who had shown some signs of collapse after being bombarded by the iron cannons, reorganized their formation under the scolding of the ashigaru commander and continued to charge towards the Takeda army on the mountain slope. When they jumped over the first trench, more than a dozen men lost their footing and fell into the trench, and then the ashigaru who had crawled out of the trench were trampled by the subsequent ashigaru who jumped over them from behind.

  Just as the Nagano army was about to cross the second moat, Li Xiao suddenly ordered the removal of the arrow shield, and then 15 or 16 bamboo baskets, which were about one person high, made of bamboo and rattan, were pushed out. Each bamboo basket had been soaked in oil, and then ignited with fire, burning into a large fireball, and then rolled down the mountain slope.

  Many of the soldiers from Nagano saw a scene like this when they climbed up to the second trench - more than ten fireballs rolling down the mountain.

  "Ah!"

  Many of the lightly clad people let out a miserable cry as their hands and feet were splattered with fireballs. Instantly, flames erupted on their bodies, and they frantically rolled around on the ground to put them out. Even more people fled in all directions to escape.

  Just as the Nagano army was dodging, more than a dozen such "fireballs" rolled down from the mountain, and for a while, the Nagano army's formation was in great disorder. Behind the Takeda army's formation, the Takeda family's iron artillery team reloaded their guns and stood in three rows, with nearly 100 iron cannons aimed at the Nagano army, which was busy dodging, and launched the third round of simultaneous firing.

  Wow!

  Dozens of Nagano family foot soldiers rolled down the mountain again.

  At this time, the commander of the Nagano military foot soldiers, even if he was in command again, had no way to do anything at all. The Nagano military foot soldier team had already fallen into a state of utter chaos.

  "Let the rifle squad get ready."

  Li Xiao saw that his tactics were having a great effect and was very satisfied. However, the Hōjō brothers, as well as Tsukamoto Kazuyasu, Tsukamoto Kiyokazu, and even Sanada Masayuki, who was known for his cleverness, were all stunned by Li Xiao's endless stream of ingenious ideas.

  This method of Li Xiao's is also a bit too much, isn't it? Everyone thought so in their hearts.

  Takeda Shingen followed Li Xiao's advice and ordered the gun ashigaru to form a light column, while the yumi ashigaru pushed forward the ikada shields and laid them across the moat as a bridge.

  "The vanguard emerges with guns at the ready."

  Takeda Shingen's 500 gun-wielding ashigaru had been waiting for a long time, and with a loud shout they swooped down from the mountain slope.

  The Nagano army, which was in a state of confusion, barely reformed its ranks, but as soon as it came into contact with Takeda Shingen's gun ashigaru, it was scattered and fled in all directions, with the Nagano family's ashigaru running wildly across the mountains.

  The Nagano army also had brave warriors who wanted to turn the tide, such as Ueno Juroku, the head of the Nagano family's ashigaru unit, and other high-ranking generals who charged at the Takeda army with reckless abandon. However, against the Takeda army's dense three-layered gun formation, their desperate resistance only created a slight ripple before being crushed.

  Nagano's many-name light general was killed, and among the sixteen guns of Ueno, Takayama Mitsushige and Shirai Gompachiro were killed on the spot!

  The Nagano family, known as the first noble family in Nishijō, was defeated like this, and the defeated soldiers even affected the rear formation of the Uesugi clan's army, and immediately the Uesugi clan's army also collapsed.

  "Sound the conch shell, let's retreat." Li Xiao Wei said with a faint smile.

  "But our army is pursuing and beheading the enemy commander." Takeda Katsuyori said hesitantly.

  Sanada Masayuki shook his head and pointed to the Uesugi army of 5,000 still waiting on the opposite mountain: "What Li Xiao said is right, the main force of Terutora's army has not yet moved. If our army continues to pursue, if we are surrounded by the enemy, we will be trapped."

  "How hateful! If not for the arrival of the Takeda army, I, Takeda Shingen, would have defeated the Uesugi army of 3,000 with just 800 men today."

  Li Xiao smiled and said, "Our army with just a few hundred soldiers, killed the enemy in one battle, enough to dampen Uesugi Kagekatsu's morale. With the help of Shoryu-dono, why worry?"

  Uesugi army headquarters.

  Looking at the disorganized Uesugi allied forces, Uesugi Kenshin suddenly stood up from his horse stirrup and gave an order to the vanguard of the Takeda army, saying: "Order Kikkawa Kagekatsu, Shiba Shigenaga, and Saito Tomonobu to come out of the array."

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