Chapter 247 21. The Conch Shell of the Battle of Fukushima
Kobayata shouted so loudly that everyone could hear him, so he didn't need to bring a pair of ears.
Yamauchi Yoshikatsu and the others stopped their horses and saw the embarrassed Hosokawa Saijo and Kobayata who ran over and called him "Brother! Brother!" Everyone looked like they understood. As a man, there was no entertainment news in this era, so it was rare to hear gossip, and it was even more interesting. Everyone laughed out loud, especially those who already had wives.
Hosokawa Saijo waved her whip and pointed here and there: "Don't laugh, don't laugh, don't laugh, what are you laughing at." Anyway, Yamauchi Yoshikatsu and him were close friends, and others were of lower status than him, so he had nothing to worry about.
"So Tansho also favors Saijo's sister?" Ogasawara Nagamasa was in his twenties, and his family had arranged a marriage for him long ago. He got married after returning from Kyoto to practice martial arts. Naturally, he was not a naive young man, and Xiao Pingtai had been his boss before, so it was a rare opportunity to tease his boss.
Xiao Pingtai was not a serious and dull person, so everyone was not afraid of Xiao Pingtai getting angry. He asked without thinking, and it seemed that he was married and meant to be a senior.
"A Ling is a good girl." Xiao Pingtai did not dare to say the next sentence, after all, the sentence "I watched her grow up" was too inconsistent. Xiao Pingtai was 25, and A Ling was 13, a beast! A beast!
"Of course my A Ling is a good girl, why did my father take a fancy to you!" Hosokawa Cainu said angrily, whipped the horse whip, and ran back to the military camp.
"Xiao Pingtai, it turns out that you have been eyeing the daughter of Lord Hosokawa for a long time, I really didn't see it." Yamauchi Yoshikatsu came over and patted Xiao Pingtai's shoulder, blinking at Xiao Pingtai, which was full of unknown meaning.
A bunch of old men are so unruly! Xiao Pingtai didn't dare to mention this matter again, and hurriedly followed Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu. Everyone had finished observing the terrain and could return to the camp.
Soon the sky turned dark. After all, it was autumn, the days were getting shorter and shorter, and the sun set early. It was already time for the camp to cook soup rice with laughter and joy, and the soldiers gathered around the cast iron pots.
This time there were more than 6,000 people in total, and Xiao Pingtai was personally responsible for the logistics. There must be no mistakes. Many of the small porters who followed the army were brought up by Xiao Pingtai in the past few years and were very skilled. Now it's such a simple thing to transport some rice, flour and beans, and it's easy to do it.
Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu followed his father's example and also took a bowl to eat with the soldiers. Anyway, the father and son of the Yamanouchi family were very skilled in this kind of thing. It can't be called acting. After all, if you do this kind of thing too much and for a long time, it's not called acting anymore. It's really a habit.
Other samurai generals didn't need to do this. They all returned to the shogunate, and naturally there were attendants who brought soup rice to enjoy. The samurai must have had more food than the soldiers. The small fish caught in the Kiso River were grilled with salt and had a charred aroma. It was appetizing, and the point was that there was plenty. There were more than a dozen fish stuck on the charcoal basin, so you could eat as much as you wanted.
In addition, there were fresh wild radishes cooked in Tsukudani, which were all seasonal vegetables. It was impossible to supply the entire army, but it was more than enough for the samurai. Finally, there were chestnut flour buns. Chestnuts were in their prime, and it was perfect to grind them into flour and make buns.
Yamauchi Yoshikatsu had also gotten close to the soldiers, so he just had to stop. He was not comfortable eating there, because the soldiers generally had a sense of awe. Moreover, the soldiers' food was very salty, which was not completely in line with normal eating habits.
After everyone finished eating, they could not go to sleep. They continued to sit in a circle and assign tomorrow's attack tasks. Ignore Fukushima Castle for now, and focus on removing Tamado Castle and Kaminodono Castle on the left and right sides. I have just seen both castles. The castles are very small, with at most 200 guards. There are no stone walls or lime walls. Just ordinary wooden fences and a log gate are considered the city walls.
The defense level is very poor, but the terrain is good. The two branch castles are on the earth slopes dozens of meters above the ground. Cross pits are dug along the wooden fences, although they are all empty pits without water. But the bamboo at the bottom of the pits are sharpened, and falling into them will still be a death.
It is certain that the city will be attacked by human flesh, and it is also certain that the 3,000 people of the Ina and Suwa clan will be used to attack. The focus of the discussion now is who will lead the troops to attack. Soldiers without samurai organization and dispatch cannot be called an army.
Yamauchi Yoshikatsu was still hesitating, but Kanai Aigoro stood up directly. He directly stated that he would be the first to fight, and there was no need to consider other candidates. Yamauchi Yoshikatsu thought about it, looked at Hosokawa Nainou again, and agreed.
At first, Ogasawara Nagamasa and Murakami Yoshimitsu, who Kobayata thought would be eager to make achievements, kept silent. Looking at the other samurai from Yamanouchi, Kobayata immediately reacted. Kanai Hideharu was from Ueno, not from Yamanouchi. Even if he didn't ask for it, the first baton would definitely be given to a samurai from another place like him.
Although Kanai Aigoro was listed among the hatamoto, there were less than 200 samurai in the hatamoto, and the status levels were still very different. Since he was recommended to the Yamanouchi family by Hosokawa Harumiya, he has not made any achievements in killing enemy generals or conquering cities on the battlefield, and there will definitely be people who question him.
But he was recommended by the family elder Hosokawa, and he didn't look at the monk's face but the Buddha's face. Even if Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu wanted to use him, he superficially asked for the opinion of Hosokawa Saejo.
Rather than saying that he was proving himself, it is better to say that Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu and Hosokawa Saejo were also testing him. Don't think that just because you can carry a sword and fight, you can be a warrior. If you can't understand the human nature, you will definitely end up filling trenches.
The next day, before dawn, everyone was already busy with their breath. Some were cooking, some were cutting bamboo, and some were moving straw ropes. The worst were the three hundred Suwas who were picked out as the first to be killed. The first wave of human flesh attack on the city would definitely cause a lot of losses. I don't know how many will come back, and I don't know if they will be intact.
Kanai Aigoro was a bachelor. He left his family rooted in Kuragano, practiced martial arts for many years, and finally came to the mountains alone. He originally wanted to make achievements. He was not afraid of difficult battles, but he was afraid of no battles. The reputation of samurai came from the battlefield, and it couldn't be faked.
Soon, more than 20 bamboo ladders were set up in the camp, and a lot of wooden shields and bamboo bundles were equipped. Kobayata also lent him more than 50 iron cannon foot soldiers. After thanking Kobayata, Kanai Aigoro began to wipe his long and short swords carefully, and was no longer disturbed by the noisy military camp.
When the preparations were completed, the sound of conch shells could be heard, and the first battle of the brutal Kiso-Fukushima Battle was about to begin.