Chapter 7: The Battle of Murozu Castle (I)
Murozu Castle was originally a fortified castle in Higashi-Ako Prefecture, but it was reinforced during the reign of Urakami Masamune, but it was not so easy to conquer from the outside, which is why the Kuroda family made this place the core of power to rule Ako Prefecture. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
However, after the Kuroda family now owned the two brothers, Yasui Doton and Yasui Dobu, the important castles and strongholds in the territory would be further strengthened, and they would launch a petition at the expense of money and food during the slack time, and invite nearby farmers to strengthen and build the castle.
Inside the original walls of Murozu Castle, another stone wall was built outside the Imperial Palace, dividing the original Murozu Castle into Honmaru and Ninomaru, increasing the depth of defense, and at the same time, imitating the city of the Ming Kingdom within the original two gates, an urn castle was built, so that the enemy could be lured to shoot.
Several small turrets were built on the walls of Murozu Castle, the same walls were treated with wet mud to make them no longer afraid of fire, and some equally treated planks and cowhides were erected on the battlements to protect the soldiers on the walls. On top of the battlements, special sections were planned for stacking stones and wooden blocks for defending the city, which were mined from the mountains by coolies, who were captured in previous battles.
The first batch of captives was the surrender of Akamatsu Masahide in the Battle of Koguchi Castle, and among them, after a long period of heavy physical labor, they were lucky enough to survive, and they had already been ordinary people for two years, and it was indeed the same as the Kuroda family said at that time, they obtained their own land, and the taxes were not high, and their lives were much better than when they were in the original Akamatsu Masahide. As for the other large part, they died in heavy labor such as paving roads and quarrying, and failed to live a good life.
A deep trench was dug outside the castle, and the horses were made of logs, like the claws of Murozu Castle. Anyway, under the hard work of the Kuroda family, Murozu Castle has changed a lot.
Mt. Kongo, located on Mt. Kongo in the north of the castle, is a 200-meter-high hill where Urakami Sokei is located, and it overlooks the entire Murozu Castle. After setting up the main camp, Urakami Sokei came to the highest point of Mt. Kurozu and looked out at Murozu Castle, surrounded by Otawara Nagashi and dozens of samurai and ashigaru.
"Lord, look, Murozu Castle has been strengthened by the Kuroda family, and it is already a fortified city! If the ants attack the city, the family will suffer great losses! Otawara pointed to the silhouette of Murozu Castle in the distance and shook his head.
"Since the army has come here, let's rest on the spot first, the army is also tired all the way to the march, prepare more siege equipment, and try to attack later, you know, there is no city that cannot be conquered." Urakami said solemnly.
"Let's go down and get ready! Even if you lose 5,000 people, as long as you break through here and can gain the land of the Kuroda family in one fell swoop, the loss will be worth it. ”
"Hey"
As the horn sounded, the Urakami army began to siege the city, and 2,000 people slowly advanced under the command of Otawara Nagasaki. The 2,000 people were basically the same as the number of the Kuroda family, and from a distance it looked dense, and Ashigaru and the peasants and soldiers were carrying ladders and hitting trees to advance steadily. More than 200 of the 2,000 men were at the head of the line, with a Maruki bow in hand, and their mission was to suppress the long-range attacks of Murozu Castle.
Seventy paces from the city, a shout of "free fire" rang out from the city walls. The range of the crossbow and the maruki bow is actually about the same, and with the assistance of the city wall, you can shoot at seventy paces. And the crossbow ashigaru saw the forefront, several teams of ashigaru with Maruki bows in their hands, in order to minimize their own pressure, and in order to suppress each other, these bows ashigaru were their priority targets.
Hundreds of crossbow arrows poured down, and immediately more than twenty Urakami soldiers fell to the ground, although the fall of their companions had a certain impact on the other bows, but they did not stay, it is normal for the siege to die, although they will also wonder why the Kuroda family's long-range attacks are so sharp. But as a bow-footer, they are also used to seeing the death of their comrades, so they don't have time to think about it, and the sooner they get into range, the more hope they have of surviving.
After another wave of crossbows and thirty more men, the bows stopped their steps, wound their bows and arrows, aimed at the head of the city, and quickly shot their bows and arrows.
The bows of the Urakami family did not hesitate, they were all experienced veterans of the Urakami family, and immediately wound up and shot the second arrow, the cowhide and planks of the castle finally played a role at this time, and one arrow after another was shot on the cowhide and plank, and soon it was shot densely, and the cowhide was shot into hedgehog skin, and the plank also became a postmodern artwork.
After the bowfoot shot two arrows lightly, the Kuroda family's crossbow bolts shot out again, and more than thirty Urakami family bows fell to the ground, and after Urakami Sokei found out that there was a problem, he couldn't stand it anymore.
"Why is the Kuroda family's bow and arrow so powerful, the family's bow and arrow have not suppressed the Kuroda family archers on the city wall at all, and there are heavy casualties, can anyone tell me why?"
Seeing that Urakami Sokage was a little angry, Hattori Hisashiya, Higasa Tsubashibo, Okamoto Hide, Akashi Keikin, Nobuhara Keineng and others in the tent did not dare to speak, for fear that if he said a bad word, it would make Urakami Sokei even more angry.
Seeing that everyone didn't speak, the military match in Urakami's hand knocked on his knee a few times.
"Lord Noonhara, tell me about it."
"Hey! My lord, the Kuroda family's bows and arrows are powerful, could it be that they used some new long-range weapons? When I heard that Akamatsu Masahide fought with the Kuroda family before, he also suffered the loss of the Kuroda family's bow and arrow. And that's true now. ”
"Okay, I don't want to know this, now my soldiers can't suppress the Kuroda family's bows and arrows, and almost a hundred people will die in one fell swoop, if you can't defeat Murozu Castle, even if you lose only a hundred people every time, the family's wealth will be exhausted by the Kuroda family. I don't want to know why, I just want the result, the result knows? Urakami Sokei shouted loudly, and the military commander waved vigorously in the air a few times.
"Let's press on the whole army!" Satsuura Shinmune, who had never spoken, said.
"The whole army presses?" Urakami asked suspiciously.
"Yes, my lord, the whole army is pressed, and ours sometimes has a lot of people, in this case, after the whole army is pressed, no matter how powerful the Kuroda family's long-range troops are, as long as there are soldiers in the family who can climb the city wall, they will inevitably stop shooting, and it will be easier for the follow-up troops to enter the city, as long as they can occupy a small section of the city wall, there can be a steady stream of soldiers to go up, and it is only a matter of time before the city falls. I'm a rough man, so I know that if we rush forward in one go, we will directly crush the Kuroda army with our strength. Sakura Shinmune said respectfully
"Is that so? Okay, according to your method, order the whole army, except for the 600 people of the banner of the family and the Tianshen Mountain City, and the other troops will immediately prepare to join the siege. Everyone, we will strive to complete the battle and capture the Kuroda family, and we will be left to gallop in Harima Japan, and we will not hesitate to reward them when the time comes, so please everyone. ”
"Hey!"
A Urakami family's bowed foot light small head, after a period of observation, slowly raised his hand and shot an arrow, a Kuroda family crossbow ashigaru who was about to shoot an arrow, was hit by the arrow in the door, and fell directly to the ground and died.
"Yay" saw that he had shot a crossbow, and this bowed foot light little head was very excited. As a result, his actions caused the anger of several Kuroda family crossbows Ashigaru. "Whoosh" Seven or eight crossbow arrows shot at him, almost all of them hit, and he fell to the ground without a doubt, with crossbow arrows stuck in his head, limbs, and neck, and he could not die anymore.