Chapter 253 27. Song Jian's Night Talk on the Three Kingdoms

Fukushima Castle was preparing intensively, and the people below Fukushima Castle were not idle at all.

The soldiers felt that the magnificent Kiso Fukushima Castle was just like this, and maybe they could go home to spend the winter and New Year in three or five days. They could also get rewards for victory, even if it was just a few dozen coins or a few liters of rice, it would be enough for the whole family to have two full meals.

Of course, the samurai would definitely not think so. It was a consensus to despise the Kiso family strategically, and it was a quality that a qualified commander should have to pay attention to the opponent tactically.

Although Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu was young, he had fought for four or five years. At the military meeting last night, Murakami Yoshimitsu said that they should guard against the Kiso family attacking the camp with fire arrows. They would always have an advantage if they shot from high up.

So today everyone brainstormed and moved the camp to a higher place first to avoid being hit by fire arrows from the mountains. Then Hosokawa Nainou asked the soldiers who had nothing to do in the afternoon to dig mud in the already cold Kiso River, which made the soldiers complain. But when everyone saw the mud smeared on the wooden fences, wooden shields, and bamboo bundles of the camp, they all understood.

It was obvious that it was the idea of ​​the old man Matsumi-sai from their Hosokawa family, because the old man seemed to have done this kind of thing a lot. He just walked around the Kiso River casually, stopped at a certain place, and ordered the soldiers to dig. Sure enough, there was mud underneath, not a rocky beach. Hosokawa Sai-jo was listening humbly.

It's another battle method that you secretly passed down in your family, so annoying!

Others also wanted to know, but this kind of thing is passed down from father to son or from family learning, and it's not easy for you outsiders to ask about it. Even Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu couldn't ask for it, it's a taboo.

Kobayata thought that the family treasures of the Hosokawa family were these two old men who had rolled around in the mud of the battle for more than 40 years and were still alive and kicking. This kind of battlefield experience is simply incomparable. Even if you are familiar with military books, you can't compare to the rich practical experience of these two old samurai.

After the mud has covered the entire camp, the basic problem should not be a big deal. Just be careful to arrange the night patrol soldiers and prepare enough campfires.

Kobayata simply suggested digging a half-meter shallow ditch 20 meters outside the camp. Anyway, it only takes two shovels, and it is not difficult to arrange. But for those who sneak close to the camp in the dark, it is a trap. After all, how can you find a ditch suddenly appearing in front of you in the dark night.

This proposal is not troublesome. Except for the hard work of the soldiers, there is no problem. Yamauchi Yoshikatsu also adopted it directly, and then asked everyone if there is anything else to add?

The samurai, including Kobayata, felt that it was almost done, so let's have dinner! Taking advantage of the sunset, the soldiers who went outside to collect firewood and fetch water also came back. The camp was naturally full of laughter and shouts of washing pots and rice, distributing salt, miso, and radishes.

Everyone sat down to eat, and Yamauchi Yoshikatsu asked everyone if there was any good way to prevent fire. Especially when camping in the wild, there is no protection like in the city.

There are too many things involved in this thing, and everyone is talking and supplementing.

Xiao Pingtai casually mentioned that everyone has read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"? In the Battle of Yiling between Han and Wu, the elite of the Han army was attacked by fire by Lu Xun, and the soldiers were killed and wounded. The first emperor Zhaolie hastily retreated to Yong'an and finally died with hatred.

Hosokawa Cainu and Yamauchi Yoshikatsu were highly educated and both said they knew it. Others nodded and shook their heads. So Xiao Pingtai picked out the key points and repeated them again.

Emperor Zhaolie led the Han army to conquer Zigui, went out of the gorge of the Three Gorges, and entered Jingzhou, where the terrain suddenly opened up. Because of the simultaneous advance by land and water, and the convenience of the rear grain route, the army has been camping along the high ground beside the Yangtze River.

However, Lu Xun used the strategy of tiring the soldiers and set up dozens of camps, letting the Han army attack one by one, and the time was delayed until summer. On the bank of the Yangtze River, the terrain was open and there was no shelter. The sun shone directly on the camp of the Han army. The hot soldiers screamed and complained.

Emperor Zhaolie, who had fought all his life, somehow made a stupid move and allowed the soldiers to move the camp to the woods far away from the river bank. So most of the Han army was separated from Huang Quan's navy and away from the turbulent Yangtze River.

At that time, there was no rain and the grass and trees in the woods were steaming and ignited at a touch. The Wu army then set fire everywhere. The Han army was attacked by fire and had no water around them. In the end, the three armies were defeated and countless people died. Even the guard general Fu Rong (Rong, not Fu Tong) died in the rear, which directly buried tens of thousands of Han soldiers.

Song Jiansai was the most touched after hearing this. He had fought for more than 40 years and had the most experience. It must be something that made him feel the same.

When Yamauchi Yoshikatsu saw the old man nodding repeatedly, he asked him if he had anything to add.

The old man was straightforward and commented directly. In fact, it is very difficult to carry out fire attack in the wild. Generally speaking, the only seasons that can be implemented are summer and the turn of autumn and winter. In summer, it is hot and everything is dry, which is easy to catch fire. In the turn of autumn and winter, it is because the north wind is strong, the wind helps the fire, and the fire helps the wind.

But even if the season is right, it is useless if the environment is wrong. First of all, there is the problem of combustion aids. Wooden tents are easy to burn, but they do not burn fast enough and are easily extinguished. The current combustion aid is naturally oil, including sesame oil, rapeseed oil and fish oil (including whale oil). Oil is expensive and generally small forces cannot afford it.

The second is gunpowder. The explosiveness of black gunpowder is not so good, and the explosion power is insufficient, but the combustion performance is much better than wood. But it is more expensive and used less. So on the battlefield in Japan, it is basically ruled out that someone would use hundreds of kilograms of gunpowder for fire attack, because everyone is poor.

So if you camp near a water source, that is, a river with sufficient flow, even if the enemy army launches a fire attack, as long as there is not much accelerant, it may be extinguished quickly, and the results will generally be small. Of course, it is not ruled out that the commander is incompetent, the soldiers are weak, and they are directly defeated.

The main reason why Emperor Zhaolie was attacked by fire was that various unfavorable environments gathered together, otherwise it would be too difficult to fail.

The rookies who just entered the battlefield talked about fire attack all the time, thinking that throwing a few pine torches and shooting a few fire arrows seemed to be all right. If it were so simple, why would there be an army. Raise a few hundred dead soldiers, and when there is a war, send them out to throw torches in the middle of the night. Isn't this a joke?

Everyone laughed after hearing this. The old man's explanation was very detailed and not boring. He was indeed experienced in fighting tough battles and his skills were guaranteed.

"Urgent report, more than a hundred torches were found outside the camp, and an unknown number of enemy soldiers were shooting arrows and guns into the camp!"