Chapter 209 13. Infantry Specialist Zuo Ma Yun

The army of 8,600 people followed the inertia left by their fathers and grandfathers from years of fighting, and rolled forward. In just half a day, they arrived at Futamata Castle, the most important branch castle of the Yamanouchi family in Totomi.

Iwase Mototaka had long known from his uncle Tsunayoshi that Kobayata had acted on his own initiative, betrayed the marriage alliance with the Imagawa clan, and encouraged Imagawa Yoshichika to go to Sunpu to seize power.

He was old, and over fifty years old was already a rare longevity for a low-level samurai. Now he only wanted to serve the country in a stable manner and pass on his Iwase family's little family business to his son. So when he heard the news at first, it was like a thunderbolt, but he was used to the betrayals in the Warring States period, and immediately knew Kobayata's intention.

So the Iwase father and son gathered all the people left in Futamata, and then armed the family members, servants, and some farmers in the city to defend Futamata tightly. Iwase Motomasa led 300 people from Nimata to cooperate with 300 people from Uncle Tsunayoshi to attack Takatenjin Castle.

Kobayata saw that Iwase Mototaka, who was already 53 years old, was wearing armor. There was a stool and a small clay stove for making tea next to the bonfire of Otemon. It was estimated that this old samurai had really been guarding the city gate without taking off his armor or saddles for the past three days. Now he saw Kobayata's more than 8,000 troops all over the mountains and plains rushing to the city, and he was relieved.

He had carried the gun for the Yamanouchi family for 35 years, and was ordered to guard the important town of Nimata in Totomi when he was old. Yamanouchi Yoshiharu trusted them, the Iwase family's pedigree flag bearer, and was loyal. There were only 50 miscellaneous soldiers in the city who were temporarily recruited. He would not allow his reputation to be ruined and let Yamanouchi Yoshiharu's instructions go wrong. Kobayata was so bold to withdraw the Nimata people that he could not sleep well for three days.

"I'm sorry for making you suffer." Kobayata jumped off his horse and bowed to Iwase Mototaka.

"Danzheng is really generous." Iwase Mototaka looked at the more than 8,000 Ejiri people gathered around Futamata Castle and couldn't help but sigh.

"How much military rations are there in the city?" Kobayata was more concerned about this. Due to the hasty start of the army, Kobayata didn't collect too much food and grass in Ejiri. The amount was only enough for the whole army to eat for less than ten days. But Futamata Castle was different. It was prepared that hundreds of soldiers in the city would be trapped for more than half a year. Not only was the defense strong, but there were also a lot of food and weapons stored.

"There are also 120 shi of rice, 400 shi of wheat, and 150 shi of beans." Iwase Mototaka was a qualified samurai, and he had a clear calculation of the materials related to the city defense.

Kobayata's eyelids turned up, and he calculated in his mind. It's enough. The military rations in Futamata are enough for 10,000 troops to eat normally for six days.

"Leave ten days' worth of food in the city, and take out the rest to supply the army." Kobayata even took away the Futamata garrison, so he didn't care about taking away the food.

Iwase Mototaka looked at Kobayata. Logically, only Yamanouchi Yoshiharu could move the food, but he didn't resist and quickly instructed the soldiers to open the Futamata granary.

When the soldiers outside the city heard that they could get food, they lined up under the city according to the number of troops. The merchants of Ejiri had long smelled the smell of money and followed the army. Soon they set up a temporary market under the city, selling cheap food such as miso, salted fish, seaweed, pickled vegetables, etc. They watched Kobayata give these soldiers a lot of Yongle money. Now everyone in the army is rich.

So the soldiers under the city cooked a big pot of mixed rice. The quality of the food for the big soldiers depends not only on the conscience of the lord, but also on whether there is a good cook in their team. If they were lucky enough to bring a cook, the food for the march might be delicious.

What would the rough men do without a cook? They would just wash the rice, flour, wheat and beans and put them in the pot. Then everyone showed their talents. Those who could get wild vegetables and radishes would cut them and throw them in the pot. Those who could steam two salted fish would make it even more luxurious. There were happy laughters under the city. After all, fighting could feed them. Not long after the spring plowing ended, the wheat had not been harvested yet, and everyone could not eat enough at home.

Kobayata immediately sent envoys and Nagashi to gather information from all directions, and contacted Takatenjin Castle, and Heiroku who urged Ejiri to try to buy food on the market and send it to the front line continuously.

Soon, the envoys sent by Uncle Tsunara also arrived at Futamata. According to Koyata's plan, 600 of them suddenly appeared at the foot of Takatenjin Castle. The castle lord Ogasawara Ujioki was brave and closed the city to defend it, but the number of people was too small, and there were only more than 50 people left in the whole city. Uncle Tsunara attacked the Tominomaru, and Iwase Motomasa attacked the Nishinomaru. In just one hour, Nishinomaru was the first to fall. Once the city was broken, the Yamauchi army was like entering an empty land, and they fought to the palace in one breath. Ogasawara Ujioki was captured alive before he had time to commit seppuku. Now they were all sent to Koyata, who would deal with them.

While the prudent uncle Tsunara temporarily defended the city, Iwase Motomasa took his men to Oi River immediately to control the bridges and ships on the river to ensure that no one on the Totomi side could escape.

Koyata was completely relieved now. Totomi was stable. There was only one Kakegawa Castle left, a Kakegawa Castle without Asahina Taisho.

Leaving some men to set up military stations and continue to transport military rations, Xiao Pingtai drove the army forward.

At this time, Xiao Pingtai suddenly felt that he was short of people. It was not that there were not enough soldiers, but that there was a lack of people who could provide advice and planning. The only retainer, Heiroku, could write and calculate, and was a good abacus, but he knew nothing about military strategy.

Needless to say, Aji was taught by Xiao Pingtai. Chen San was very well-educated and could write poems and sing. He also knew two foreign languages ​​and could fire iron cannons, but he was still observing Xiao Pingtai in terms of marching, deploying troops, and drawing battle strategies.

Most of the samurai in Ejiri are experienced in the military, but unfortunately they are not retainers or powerful people of Koyata. If they get too close to them, it will be taboo, after all, they are Chinese.

Koyata looked around and saw that only the youngest Murakami Yoshimitsu was left, a 17-year-old 100-kan hatamoto samurai. Yamanouchi Yoshiharu once secretly told Koyata that his father had just died for the country, and this was the only one left in the Murakami family in Yamanouchi, so he asked Koyata to take good care of him and not to send him on any dangerous missions. Let him get a few years of experience, get married and have children. Otherwise, Murakami Yoshimitsu would be killed, and everyone would think that the Yamanouchi family was too shady, and that the father would die and the son would be killed.

"Saman, come here." Koyata called out.

Murakami Yoshimitsu, who was temporarily serving as the general of the team's security, heard the call and came quickly.

"What do you want, Danzheng?" Murakami Yoshimitsu also rode on a small Kiso packhorse and answered loudly, but he did not approach Kobayata directly, but lagged behind Kobayata by a horse head.

"Is your family's family tradition to command the foot soldiers to fight in formation?" Kobayata knew that his family was originally a foot soldier captain, and several generations had been infantrymen leading foot soldiers to fight in formation.

"Yes, my father served His Highness for thirty years, and fought more than forty battles, big and small. Whenever there was a war, he was the foot soldier captain in the front line." Murakami Yoshimitsu was very proud of their family's identity as a samurai, and praised his father for his bravery in fighting.

"Then how do you think foot soldiers should fight?" Kobayata didn't mind seeing how much of the family's kung fu this man had learned.

"Of course, thousands of people should form a large formation and march forward in a dignified manner." Murakami Yoshimitsu gave a very ordinary answer.

"That's all?" Kobayata was a little disappointed.

"Of course not. Look, the geography of Enshu is not a vast plain. The road to Kakegawa Castle is winding and the mountains are undulating. With such a terrain, the foot soldiers can't form a large formation of hundreds of people to attack. It is more suitable for small teams to attack in groups."

"But you have seen how the foot soldiers are. A large formation of hundreds of people can still meet the enemy. If they fight alone, they will just give away their lives."

"It is too much to ask these foot soldiers to cooperate in a small team." Murakami Yoshimitsu is worthy of being a three-generation, one-hundred-year infantry family. He sees it clearly.

What Spanish phalanx, Morris phalanx, Gustav oblique formation, I'm sorry, there is no place to set up the terrain of Japan except the Kanto Plain.

It's not that there are no capable people in Japan. Who can't see the power of the long spear phalanx? It's not that the combat experience of the samurai in Japan is not as good as that of the city-state countries more than 2,000 years ago.

Everyone wants to develop a war method that suits the national conditions, but in Japan, playing a large square formation is a death wish, and playing a small team cooperation does not have the troops, so the only way is to fight a messy battle in this embarrassing way.

Although Murakami Yoshimitsu has no solution, he can see the problem accurately. Although he is young, he has some skills.

Don't invest, I won't sign a contract.