Chapter 334 24. Kawanakajima, Who Has Been Delayed for a Long Time

Obaita originally thought that with his appearance, he could compete with the Takeda clan all the way, and half of Shinano was taken away by him. Takeda Harunobu did not have the strength or the troops to pull out a red-armored army that did not exist in history.

But it is obvious that Takeda Harunobu was greatly stimulated by Kawanakajima last time. Not only was the left wing defeated by the volley of hundreds of iron cannons and foreign guns, but the cavalry of Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu also rushed to the main camp and almost lost half his life.

Takeda Harunobu did not know how to make iron cannons, but the merchants in Suruga Bay had a source of goods. As long as the gold of Kai Kinzan was dug out, Sukezaemon would pull dozens of Sakai iron cannons for him. Honest, sixteen taels of gold per cannon.

Well, it is two taels more expensive than Sakai.

It only takes two or three months to operate the iron cannon skillfully, and it is not the first time for the Takeda family to see iron cannons. In the past, it was just that it was not used on a large scale on the battlefield and the firepower was not valued.

As for the cavalry, it was even simpler. They occupied half of the small county, and Takeda Harunobu also built a lot of horse farms and ranches around Katsurao. One of the most important ranches in Shinano during the Genpei War, Mochizuki Ranch, was taken into his pocket.

Not only did he have a large number of professional horse breeders, but he also had a stable horse ranch. Although Kiso horses were just okay, they were enough for him to raise a cavalry team of 200 people.

This time, Takeda Harunobu seemed to come with the momentum of not returning until Kaizu was conquered. Along the Kaizu Plain and the Northern Country Street, there were endless people and horses, and a temporary Fu Castle was built, which was very aggressive.

Uesugi Terutora finally arrived with his sidekicks, horse guards, and small surnames, so the initiative of the war was all in the hands of Uesugi Terutora.

Both sides had finished the autumn harvest. Although part of the rice had to be sold in exchange for money, the military rations and rice were still very abundant at this moment. Uesugi Terutora finally didn't have to plunder everywhere to prepare military supplies and practiced the "true nature of the samurai family".

As for why Yamauchi Yoshikatsu didn't take the cannon to the battlefield? It's very simple. With such a short time, there was no gunner trained at all. Cannons are not matchlock guns. Even loading, firing, cleaning and cooling are all knowledge. Do you want to train qualified personnel in three or five days?

Even if Hamamatsu casts bronze smoothbore cannons, it is necessary to arrange gunners with some cultural foundation to study hard for one or two years before they can be considered completely qualified. Therefore, there is still a long way to go before using cannons.

Kodaira was too busy and collected all the annual tributes. Then he mobilized hundreds of foot soldiers and thousands of formation men to set out from Yamauchi Fuchu Castle and go north along Ina Street. Send enough military rations to Yamauchi Yoshikatsu to prevent the battle from turning into a confrontation and the military rations from being insufficient.

When they arrived at Kaizu, Uesugi Terutora and Takeda Harunobu tried countless small-scale tests, and both sides won and lost. They tried to spread scouts widely to cover the battlefield and make the other side blind.

But it's a pity that the two sides met their match and the generals met their talents. After more than ten days, they both lost dozens of lives and made no progress. You can't do anything to me, and I can't do anything to you.

Yamauchi Yoshikatsu also asked Kobayata if he had any good strategy to lure Takeda Harunobu out for a decisive battle. Now that the forces of both sides are at odds, Uesugi Terutora is still very confident in his command ability.

Kobayata has no way out. Takeda Harunobu is just a slippery lynx, leaping and galloping in the mountains, and you can't catch his tail at all. In the past, he could collide with Takeda Harunobu because he took the initiative to collide with him.

Now that Takeda Harunobu sees that the coalition forces are numerous and powerful, he changed his offensive and defended in a methodical manner. With the support of powerful soldiers, it is impossible for both sides to run out of food and retreat.

Moreover, the terrain of the battlefield now is simply the riverside plain south of Kawanakajima. Although Shinano is full of mountains and hills, the several river valleys are still very flat and wide, suitable for farming and living.

How could they cheat on the plain? There was no high hill in this place. The highest point was the watchtowers erected by both sides, and they could see clearly what they did.

If they mobilized their troops, they would be discovered by the other side. Now it was not foggy, and it was too difficult to imitate the sudden attack of the whole army in the last Battle of Kawanakajima.

Takeda Harunobu's Fu Castle was also being built more and more perfectly. Small pack teams from the rear kept sending the preliminarily processed fence planks. The temporary Fu Castle was already quite large, and was even better than the large and small castles densely distributed in Shinano.

Seeing that Takeda Harunobu's Fu Castle was getting better day by day, Takanari Masayasu was anxious. How could he allow others to sleep under his bed? Takeda's Fu Castle was right under his Kaizu Castle, and his future life would definitely be difficult.

But to attack a fortification with 16,000 people stationed? This was too difficult. This is also the reason why Uesugi Terutora was only willing to fight in the wild. Attacking a city is not a good idea.

At this time, Takeda Harunobu was no longer anxious. He took the initiative to attack, but took a defensive position in the battle. The coalition forces rose to fight, but they became more and more anxious day by day, and became restless and unable to sit still.

The shape of the army is like water, and water has no fixed shape.

Moreover, Takeda Harunobu, who occupied the four counties of Shinano, the province of Kai, most of Suruga, and Sagami Tsukui, could only mobilize more than 10,000 people? It's impossible to think about it. He left at least tens of thousands of people in various places. Even if something happened in Suruga in the rear, Sakon had no force that could threaten the tens of thousands of troops left behind.

Kobayata's original idea was to support Murakami Takeomaru to win over the Takeda army's Kuzuo people, use Uesugi Terutora's face to win over the small county Saku people, and use Yamanouchi Yoshiharu and Ogasawara Nagatsuki's face to win over the Suwa people, so that the Takeda army's rule in Shinano would be on fire on all sides.

But now the Shinano people rushed forward, all under the command of Takeda Harunobu, and there was not even a countryman with a little strength left behind the Takeda army.

What's the point of recruiting a village chief or a farm owner, let him lead dozens of tenant farmers to start an army. Before this army was up, it was wiped out by the Takeda family's county governor and ten or eight policemen (fog) from the police station. It can't threaten the rear and hinterland of the Takeda army at all, and there is no place to use its strength.

In this way, there was no progress for half a month, and the two sides launched a sit-in war. There was no war and no negotiations.

The extremely boring war lasted for a long time, and Xiao Pingtai could not stay any longer. He had to go back to his skills to continue transporting food and grass. He couldn't let Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu on the front line starve.

The exhaustion of food was only one aspect. The morale of the coalition forces composed of tenant farmers, self-cultivating farmers, small landlords and a few standing soldiers became increasingly depressed. Even rewarding them with food and wine could not motivate the soldiers who were beginning to miss their homeland. The depressing atmosphere in the camp even affected Xiao Pingtai a little.

When will Kawanakajima stop this time?

There will be an extra update tomorrow.