Chapter 735 18. Gifu Danzheng Ambush

There were naturally skilled rangefinders in the main camp, who immediately took out a protractor and compared and calculated the distance between Oda Nobunaga and the artillery position of the Yamanouchi Army. It was a pity that Nobunaga was not a fool. Cannons had been popular in Japan for so many years, and many daimyo already knew the approximate effective range.

As for the bayonets on the cannons, they were not brave enough to push them directly into the front line of the firefight. It was too difficult to train artillery, and the death of any one of them would be heartbreaking.

Although the Yamanouchi Army was equipped with a relatively light and fast-firing 3-pound bronze smoothbore cannon, its maximum range was only 400 meters, which was still not enough for Oda Nobunaga's main camp on the other side.

Ashikaga Yoshiaki seemed to have something to ask Fujiwara Danzheng, but just as he opened his mouth, he stopped, smiled bitterly, and continued to keep a close eye on the battle. Hosokawa Fujitaka led the iron artillery to go down the mountain to fight, and Isshiki Yoshiari continued to serve as the main camp guard.

"Chibajie fired!" Isshiki Yoshiari was obviously not as calm as Hosokawa Fujitaka. The young man had never seen such a big scene and was a little surprised.

The exchange of fire between the two sides on the bank of Lianwu River became more and more intense. Oda Nobunaga did not learn how to make a cannon cart, but the principle that the higher the cannon is, the farther it can hit can be understood as long as you have seen the cannon being fired.

So he built a lot of earth platforms between the second and third formations of the horse fence. When there was nothing to do, he used it as a lookout for the enemy formation. When needed, he could directly move the Portuguese guns up, take advantage of the high ground, and treat the Yamauchi army to a fierce attack.

Iwase Motomori's charge broke the horse fence, but after Oda Nobunaga moved forward to the main formation, the Portuguese guns also came over, and the earth-shaking round of shooting killed more than a dozen soldiers. The family of the Iwase family did not dare to let their young master take risks again, so they went up together to snatch the person back.

The young man was still very excited. He held the head of a big man in one hand. His face was covered with dirt and blood. He didn't care about spitting out the dirt in his mouth. He shouted and presented the head to Imagawa Yoshichika.

Imagawa Yoshichika encouraged the young man and immediately discussed with his brother-in-law Hosokawa Fujitaka. The gap must be broken. At this time, we can't care about casualties. We must ensure that the gap is controlled.

Continue to invest troops, remove more horse fences, and attack the second line of defense. Oda Nobunaga moved the main camp to this place, which greatly strengthened the troops and firepower here, but for the Yamanouchi army, it not only increased the difficulty of attacking, but also increased the chance of winning.

Before, it was necessary to break through three lines of defense and then break through the backup substitutes to rush into the Oda main camp at Gokurakuji Mountain. Now, as long as two lines of defense are broken, we can fight with Oda's main team. Once the three lines of defense are broken, Oda Nobunaga will be directly exposed to the Yamanouchi army, which is the opportunity for victory.

"Keep the cannons firing. We need to increase the number of troops this time and continue to advance. We can't slack off!" Hosokawa Fujitaka saw that the Oda army on the opposite side was taking advantage of the gap when the Yamanouchi army retreated slightly to reorganize.

"We can't give Takigawa Sakon a chance to reorganize!" Imagawa Yoshichika also thought so.

"Let me go!" Uncle Tsunayoshi can't walk fast at ordinary times, but when he goes to the battlefield, he is like he is 20 years younger and speaks with full energy.

The two of them have no objection to Uncle Tsunayoshi's request for battle. At this time, the veteran generals with many years of experience are definitely more useful than the young man Iwase Motomori. Just in terms of battlefield acumen and improvisation, Uncle Tsunayoshi is definitely better.

"Then I'll leave it to Saemon!" Imagawa Yoshichika shook Uncle Tsunayoshi's hand.

Uncle Tsunayoshi's Nimata-san is needless to mention. It is an old army established after the Battle of Tenryu River. After more than ten years of fighting, they have made great achievements and helped Uncle Tsunayoshi earn more than 3,000 kan.

With a sharp whistle, the Nimata-san has been ready for battle. Under the leadership of several foot soldiers, they hold two guns and swords, and some foot soldiers carry wooden shields. They rush forward in the face of the iron cannons and the occasional Portuguese cameras.

"Chibajie! Before Saemon rushes up, fire another round!" Hosokawa Fujitaka pointed to a section where the fence had tilted.

"No need!" The cannons had been loaded long ago. They only needed to adjust the direction slightly. The shells passed over the advancing Nimata-san and hit the Oda army in one fell swoop.

Uncle Tsunayoshi was fine, but he frightened the advancing Futamata soldiers. It was obvious that infantry-artillery coordination was still far away from Futamata, a purely feudal army. However, seeing that the cannons were hitting the Oda army, the foot soldiers thought that since they couldn't hit me anyway, why not hurry up and fire two more rounds!

Even the most elite feudal army was not willing to enter a hand-to-hand fight, because getting injured meant death with a high probability. It's just that the elite soldiers dared to face hand-to-hand fights and were able to fight hand-to-hand, but the army that dared to face hand-to-hand fights also hoped that the enemy on the opposite side would receive a few more rounds of bullets and a few more rounds of cannons before the hand-to-hand fight.

"Is there any way to hit the Portuguese gun on the earth platform?" Seeing that Uncle Tsunayoshi's team was also hit by the Portuguese, Imagawa Yoshichika pointed to the Portuguese gun on the Oda artillery platform and said.

"It's possible, but it's a little far away and can't be aimed accurately." Hara Tanekatsu compared the distance, and there were nearly 300 meters between the two.

"If you can hit it, fire a volley. Even if you can't hit it, you have to weaken the opponent's momentum!" Imagawa Yoshichika will not save gunpowder for his nephew. Use it as much as possible. If you don't need it now, then when will you use it?

"Boom boom boom boom!" The four bronze smoothbore cannons deployed in front of the battle line fired at the same time.

The Oda turret seemed to be hit, and there was a puff of smoke and wailing, but it seemed to recover soon and started firing again.

………………

"I knew it!" Oda Nobunaga put down the telescope and was overjoyed.

"Katsuzo! Get ready!"

"Yes!" Mori Nagako was also eager to try.

It was obvious that Oda Nobunaga intended to move the Portuguese gun forward and put it where the Yamauchi army could see it. This would not only provide fire support for Takigawa Ieyasu, who was defending on the front line, but also lure the Yamauchi army's artillery to appear.

With Yamauchi's application of artillery, he would definitely try to name the Portuguese guns of the Oda army to prevent the attacking Yamauchi army from suffering ruthless bombardment in addition to the baptism of iron cannons.

And Oda Nobunaga was obviously waiting for this moment, waiting for the Yamauchi army to expose the location of the light rapid-fire guns that he had long detected, so that he could do it.

Following Oda Nobunaga's arduous transfer from Gokurakuji Mountain to the front line, his mysterious veil was finally unveiled at this moment, and the dark and long giant revealed a breathtaking power in the morning light.

If Xiao Pingtai was here, he would definitely shout "WTF!"

In front of him were two 8-pound British Kolflin long-barreled cannons!