Chapter 254 29. Troops Exhausted After a Night of Harassment

Yamauchi Yoshikatsu stood up suddenly: "You are just in time. I want to test my blade."

Everyone stood up one after another. After all, there was an enemy, so naturally they had to send people to meet the enemy. The combat effectiveness of the Kiso army was really average, and everyone wanted to earn this credit.

"Beat the war drums, summon the whole army, everyone return to the team, follow me to defeat the enemy." Yamauchi Yoshikatsu announced the order loudly.

"Your Highness, wait a minute, the Kiso attack is only about a hundred people (because they saw a hundred torches), and they can be dispersed by sending a foot soldier with dozens of soldiers. It is unwise to drive a large army at night without full preparation!" Matsumi Sai, who was standing in the crowd just now and talking about "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" for everyone, spoke directly and dissuaded Yamauchi Yoshikatsu from sending the whole army to meet the enemy.

"Huh?" Yamauchi Yoshikatsu was stunned after hearing this, and the hand that was raised high to hold the military garrison no longer decisively under the command, but was retracted. Then Yamauchi Yoshikatsu looked at Kobayata, with the intention of consulting.

"Shinshu no Kami, what old Matsumi-sai said is very true. The soldiers have been tired for a day, and now they have just rested after a full meal. If they are summoned suddenly, there will be chaos, and even the whole army will be affected, giving the Kiso soldiers an opportunity." Kobayata himself could not see very clearly at night. Since meat was not easy to obtain, the nutrition was not enough. Not to mention the soldiers who could not even eat enough, they were summoned in the dark, and no one knew what would happen.

"Stable Manager, in this case, I will call dozens of hatamoto to patrol the camp in person, and you will assign the whole army here." Hosokawa Saijo went out of the tent to the outer camp as the deputy general. His reputation was great, and he was enough to suppress people.

"Then let it be!" Yamauchi Yoshikatsu felt that such an arrangement was indeed safer than going up to fight together.

Then the attendants lit the bonfire bigger, illuminating the two horse flags of Yamauchi in the main camp, so that the whole army of Yamauchi could see clearly, indicating that there was no problem for Yamauchi Yoshikatsu to sit firmly in the center of the army.

Then, the samurai were ordered to return to their teams to pass on the order that all soldiers who were not assigned to patrol or guard that night should stay quietly in the tents, not make any noise, not move around, and even if they needed to go to the bathroom, they had to endure it. If anyone dared to shout or run around in panic, they could be executed directly to prevent riots in the military camp.

In addition, Hosokawa Saijo, who was in the outer camp, was not allowed to go out of the camp to pursue, but only to use the iron cannon horse wheel of Yamanouchatsu and his own bow and arrow foot soldiers to shoot back and try to disperse the Kiso soldiers. Even if the Kiso army could not shoot into the camp, they could just watch them perform outside the camp and ignore them.

After the assignment was completed, everyone sat quietly by the campfire, waiting for news from Hosokawa Saijo.

But there was no news here, and news of attacks and discovery of enemy traces came from all over the outer camps one after another. After counting, there were no less than fifteen or sixteen teams. (First, it was dark, and second, there was a delay in information transmission.)

At this time, all the generals in the tent, including Yamauchi Yoshikatsu, began to panic. After all, the Kiso army had the advantage of the terrain and the people, and the soldiers were familiar with the local grass and trees. The night made the combat effectiveness between the two armies infinitely close. Even if they fought at night at this moment, the Yamauchi army might not be able to beat the Kiso army.

At this time, the disadvantage of everyone's lack of war experience appeared. After all, everyone present had only fought for a few years. There were more or less some problems of insufficient response. Matsumi Sai accompanied Hosokawa Cainu to the outer camp to command the patrol soldiers to deal with the continuous harassment.

"Impossible, the entire Kiso army is only 2,000 people. Now 15 or 16 teams of soldiers are coming to attack the camp. Doesn't it mean that there are almost no defenders in Kiso Fukushima Castle?" Xiao Ping Taiyi slapped his forehead. This number is the key. The Kiso family has tried hard to arm the miscellaneous soldiers. There are only about 2,000 people. How can they create so many troops?

"Shinshu no Kami, you should send someone to ask the foot soldiers of each team whether the Kiso army was just harassing and never crossed the shallow ditch to actually attack the camp."

"That's right! Saman Yun, you take a few horsemen and go there in person, especially to ask Matsumi Sai's opinion. Go and come back quickly, don't delay!" Yamauchi Yoshikatsu waved his hand, and several horsemen who had already dismounted and were holding iron cannons and wearing long swords immediately followed Murakami Yoshimitsu out of the shogunate tent.

"Kobayata, do you think the Kiso army is just harassing? Are they just scattered small groups of soldiers?"

"That's right, our army's camp is well-organized, and it will definitely be difficult to break through in a hurry. Unless there is someone inside, the attack from both inside and outside can succeed. Besides, if we attack the camp, how can we divide the troops into more than ten teams? We should concentrate our forces and make a strong attack to break the camp, and then expand the results of the battle."

"Then there is no need to mobilize at will, just defend it carefully?" "I think so too." "Okay!" So the two of them stopped talking, each found a small stool, and sat down quietly.

However, the bamboo stick in Kobayata's hand kept touching the ground, and Yamauchi Yoshikatsu's fingers kept stroking the military uniform. The two people's uneasiness and anxiety were still hidden in their hearts.

"Your Highness, Lady Cai replied that the Kiso army was indeed only traveling outside the camp, constantly shooting fire arrows into the camp, and no one approached the camp to test." Murakami Yoshimitsu, who went to inquire, quickly returned to the camp and knelt on one knee to report to Yamauchi Yoshikatsu.

Several horsemen who went out with him asked other foot soldiers and got the same answer. Yamauchi Yoshikatsu felt relieved.

"Shinshu no Kami, you can take a short rest. I will stay here to keep watch." Kobayata advised Yamauchi Yoshikatsu to lie down for a while. Anyway, according to the current situation, there would be no problem at all.

"No need. Let's wait until Cai Nu comes back before we worry about it." Yamauchi Yoshikatsu was not very sleepy and still wanted to hear his childhood friend's personal report.

In the second half of the night, the number of Kiso soldiers harassing them became fewer and fewer. Compared with the situation in the first half of the night when the shouts of killing and killing were deafening, they were completely sparse. At this point, the harassing Kiso army had all retreated, and there were no more torches.

Hosokawa Saijo and his old retainer Matsumi-sai also came back. The old man was old after all. He sat by the fire, warming his hands with a little fatigue on his face. Kobayata quickly poured a cup of hot tea on the stove and handed it over.

"Why do you think the Kiso army came?" Kobayata wanted to hear the old soldier's thoughts.

Matsumi-sai took off his vest and wiped his sweaty head with a piece of cotton cloth. He said he was a monk, but he was actually a flat head, and he was not a proper monk, so he didn't need to shave it so cleanly. He wiped the sweat on his head to prevent himself from catching a cold. This was all his experience from decades of fighting.

"Thank you for the reminder. The Kiso army must be trying to tire out our army. After all, it will snow in less than a month. As long as our army is tired and cannot conquer Fukushima, all our previous efforts will be wasted and we will retreat to Yamanouchi."

Sure enough, it seems that the Kiso army did a good job. When everyone heard the word tired, they all yawned, and it was contagious, and they all yawned non-stop.

"Everyone go back and lie down for a while, it's still some time before the battle." Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu felt sleepy and asked everyone to go back and rest.

Matsumi Sai also stood up and walked to the camp with Hosokawa Saijo.

Suddenly, the old man seemed to think of something!

"Your Highness, something bad is happening! Something bad is happening!"