Volume 2: Thick and Heavy Winds and Clouds Chapter 47: Siege of Guofeng City

  Li Xiao wore a large cuirass and charged into the Guofeng City's main gate with a large spear, while two newly recruited subordinates, Shima Katsuto and Shiroyama Kazuhane, who had just recovered from his injuries, held samurai swords to protect Li Xiao's left and right sides.

  Kunimine Castle was not a large castle, and like Takato Castle, it had a two-layered concentric structure. The Takeda Shingen army entered from the Osarube Gate and killed their way up along the small road to the Honmaru.

  After the rear gate was breached, the defenders of Honmaru hurriedly shifted their forces to transfer power from Honmaru's tengu or standing on the curve, shooting arrows at the advancing Takeda soldiers, but did not cause any casualties. However, behind the barricades on the road, there were occasionally several loyal soldiers of the Obata clan who desperately resisted and killed out from behind the earthworks like a barricade, trying to delay the entry of the Takeda army into Honmaru.

  However, these people did not cause any obstacles to Li Xiao and his party. On the way, Takeda Shingen's iron cannon team and archery team stood in several rows at the foot of the city and began to intensively shoot at the defenders on the main keep of Kunifeng Castle. Instantly, several Shibata family soldiers were hit by bullets or arrows and fell down from the earthworks of the main keep.

  When Li Xiao and his men reached the front gate of the main citadel, a fire had already broken out on the side of the Da Shou Gate, with thick smoke billowing upwards.

  The main gate has just been broken through by Kohei's attack, but the remaining defenders are still stubbornly resisting near the big hand gate, and it is estimated that it will take some time for Kohei to kill his way here. Li Xiao saw this and was secretly delighted, because breaking through the main camp and capturing the castle owner, Kohei Kagezane, would be a great achievement, and it was likely to be his own.

  Korikiyo's joy was short-lived, as the defenders of Kōfu Castle made one final stand. More than 20 members of the last remaining garrison of the castle, led by the ōbata clan, charged out of the main gate with swords in hand, shouting loudly as they clashed with the Takeda forces.

  In the narrow castle road, the warriors of both armies fought together. Although the warriors of the Oban family were prepared to die, the Takeda army was led by fierce generals such as Rikuo, Shima Katsutaka, and Morooka Kagetane, who could not be shaken off. At this time, Hoshina Masayuki and his brother Hoshina Masamitsu, who were eager to build their own achievements, also brought their own warriors from the rear to join the battle.

  The Takeda army came pouring in, and the small band of Hatakeyama samurai were vastly outnumbered. Despite their most valiant resistance, they were soon overwhelmed by Shingen's troops, who had an absolute numerical superiority.

  The bodies of more than twenty people were lying in front of the main gate, and the Takeda family soldiers came forward with both hands dragging the feet of these people to move the corpses away, clearing the empty space in front of the door, then turned back to cut off their heads as their own military merit.

  "Break in."

  Looking at the red armor, with the Takeda crest on their backs, the Takeda soldiers gathered in front of the hedgehog gate. Li Xiao shouted loudly and gave the order to ram the door.

  Six sturdy and powerful warriors of the Takeda clan, with their upper bodies bare, grasped a large log and charged towards the crown gate of Honmaru, which had little defensive power.

  The fragile wooden gate was broken through in just a few blows, and the Takeda soldiers collectively cheered and rushed into the main citadel. After the main citadel fell, generally speaking, the siege battle had reached this point, and the defending army could basically wash their necks clean and prepare to surrender.

  Inside the open main gate of Honmaru, on the stone stairs with more than 20 levels, the tower gate of Tenshukaku was tightly closed. Li Xiao still ordered people to use wood to knock open the gate and kill into Tenshukaku.

  When several eager Takeda samurai entered the tenshukaku, they were immediately fired upon by arquebuses, with one killed on the spot and another wounded and collapsed to one side. However, more Takeda samurai rushed in, eager for merit.

  Li Xiao entered the Tengus with a long spear and saw that the last resistance was made up of seven or eight famous swordsmen wearing formal attire, who were likely to be the hereditary vassals of the Obata family. Although these old men were advanced in age, their knife skills were still sharp, but they were still old, their legs and feet were not agile, and they couldn't cause much trouble.

  What surprised Li Xiao was that the two who had just fired the iron cannon were only eleven or twelve years old, still in their childhood. Judging from their appearance, they should be the sons and nephews of Kohei Shimizu. Seeing Li Xiao approaching step by step, they nervously and anxiously reloaded the bullets into the muzzle of the iron cannon.

  And above their heads, behind the stairs leading up to the watchtower, came the faint sound of a woman's wailing.

  The two children were immediately seized by several Takeda soldiers, capturing the enemy's family members was a great achievement, more effective than killing them.

  "The city has been breached, My Lord, please make preparations."

  The last old house minister who was killed, with several bamboo spears stuck in his back at the same time, died on the stairs, stretched out his hand and used his last breath to shout this sentence towards the stairs.

  Something's wrong, Kohei Futa is going to kill himself. Xiaoli thought of this and signaled the Takeda soldiers to speed up their pace and catch up.

  The bodies of these people were immediately kicked to one side, and Li Xiao and the lightly armed soldiers charged up to the second floor of the Tian Shou. On the second floor, Li Xiao and the others happened to see two women who looked like maids, stabbing each other with knives, while the other maids had already used small knives to slit their own throats.

  Li Xiao ordered the servants to take care of the maidservant who had not yet committed suicide, quickened his pace, stepped over the corpse of the maidservant, and together with Shima Katsutoyo and Shiroyama Kazuhane as well as several other samurai, rushed straight towards the large hall where the lord was.

  As the sliding doors of the large room were pulled open, a gruesome scene appeared before everyone's eyes. A woman wearing a beautiful kimono was lying in a pool of blood, her body covered in blood, apparently killed by a sword. Meanwhile, Sanemori, dressed in white clothes and looking like a castle owner, held his own intestines in both hands, which had been ripped out from his abdomen, and his body was leaning forward.

  "It seems that he first killed his wife and then cut his belly. Dao Yesheng said calmly, with a flat tone, as if he had been used to it after traveling around for many years."

  "Castle owner Obata no Kagechika has taken his own life, and after a fierce battle, Kokufu Castle has finally fallen. Lord, the credit for this conquest of Kokufu Castle goes to you alone." Shirokane Kazuhane said to Li Xiao.

  Li Xiao sighed and shook his head, saying only: "You know what they say - beautiful women are like famous generals, not allowed to show their white hair in the mortal world."

  Shima Katsuto and Shishigaya Ichimon were both rough men, with no literary background, so they didn't know what Li Xiao meant. Li Xiao smiled and said: "Send someone to report to General Shori immediately that we have captured Kokuhō Castle. Also, since Kobata Kiyokuni has already taken his own life, there's no need to cut off his head, let's give him a proper burial."

  Just as Li Xiao finished speaking, a sudden noise came from behind the paper door of Obata Kagen's room. Li Xiao and the others raised their knives and guns in alarm, and Shioka Ichō shouted loudly, saying: "Come out for me, otherwise I'll shoot you with a gun."

  After a moment of silence, the sliding door of the paper partition was quietly opened, revealing a pair of women hiding behind the door and wearing kimonos.