Chapter 343 Chikuma River
Shinano country rice mountain city.
As the northern important town of the Shinano country, it has always been a major traffic town for the Shinano country to go north to resist the Echigo country, or for the Echigo country to go south to invade the Shinano country.
In the several wars that broke out between the Echigo Kingdom and the Shinano Kingdom, Iiyama Castle was repeatedly contested as an extremely important strategic location, and the bones left by both sides spread all over the mountains and fields.
The Takanashi family, a powerful daimyo in the northern part of the Shinano country in today's Iiyama Castle, is occupied.
The Takanashi family occupies the northern part of the Shinano country, and the family territory is traversed by the Chikuma River, an important river between the Echigo country and the Shinano country, and the land is irrigated very fertilely.
However, although the land is fertile and produces a lot of food, due to the war, many good fields have been abandoned, and many people under the rule have been displaced.
Therefore, although the Takanashi family occupies a large area in the northeast of Shinano, it connects the exchanges between Echigo and Shinano. It was originally a prosperous area with prosperous business travel and developed agriculture.
But the total population of the entire Takanashi family is only 20,000 people, and the army that can be mobilized is only 4,000 people.
Among them, there are only 150 warriors above the second level of strength, and their strength is quite weak.
However, now that the entire Shinano country has formed an alliance, a large number of domestic tyrants, Daming, led the family force to Iiyama Castle of the Takanashi family, intending to block the enemy from outside the country in the northernmost region of the Shinano country. .
Up to now, Tomita Yoshinari, who led an army of 50,000, has just arrived in the Iiyama Castle area, facing this small city across the river from the Chikumagawa River.
At the foot of Iiyama Castle, a total of 50,000 Shinano Allied Forces had already gathered there, waiting in full force.
"Yan Xiujun, the army of Lingtian Dojo is now overwhelmed, with an army of 50,000 people. I don't know how to resist it."
Yoshiki Murakami, the largest wealthy family in the Shinano Kingdom, looked at Hikohide Takahashi, the governor of the Takanashi family, and now the owner of the cooking mountain castle.
"Lord Yiqing, Iiyama City is built along the river, and there is the natural danger of the Chikuma River. We can deploy heavy troops on the river bank and block all the crossings that can cross the river. This is enough to make it difficult for the enemy to cross the river. Even if they force it, they will inevitably lose heavy."
Hikohide Takanashi answered directly without thinking for long.
But Murakami Yoshiki who was opposite him was not satisfied, his brows were frowned, and he looked at Takanashi Hikohide with an extremely dissatisfied expression.
The method that Takanashi Hikohide just said is not peculiar, even people from other countries present know it.
Because this is an extremely common method used by the Shinano Kingdom in the past when resisting the invasion of the Echigo Kingdom.
Of course, this method is also quite useful. In the past several wars, the corpses of many soldiers from the Echigo Kingdom were submerged in this natural barrier.
"Yan Xiujun, this method is certainly useful, but even if relying on the river can cause some damage to the enemy, it is still difficult to be of much use to the overall battle situation."
"Hehe, Mr. Yiqing is too impatient. The enemy has 50,000 people, which is an incomparably huge force. Even if we don't have any disadvantages in numbers, the real power ratio is still at a disadvantage. With such a huge gap, it is too much for granted that Lord Yiqing wants to defeat the enemy in one battle."
The person who spoke was another powerful daimyo in Shinano, the governor of the Suwa family, Suwa Yoshige.
As a powerful family second only to the Murakami family in Shinano, there have been countless battles in the past in order to fight for hegemony and unify the entire Shinano country.
The Takanashi family, a wealthy family located in the north of the Murakami family, is an important figure drawn by the Suwa family. If the Takanashi family can join the camp of the Suwa family, it will be able to form a north-south attack on the Murakami family. Strategically, it will have a huge advantage. The advantages.
So now it seems that he has rushed forward, and after obviously embarrassing the Takanashi family, Suwa Yoshige directly expressed his support.
"Lai Chong-jun is right. Although I also hope to quickly defeat the enemy army on the opposite side, it is never a child's play to fight with a large army, especially this kind of battle with 100,000 people. It cannot be resolved in one battle or two. It will be a long war."
Another wealthy family in Shinano, the governor of the Ogasawara family, the governor of the Ogasawara family, expressed his support.
"you……"
Murakami Yoshiki pointed to a few people, but did not continue. The reason why he was embarrassing Takanashi Hikohide just now was because he wanted to hit him because he was getting too close to the Suwa family.
As for really wanting him to come up with some useful strategy to defeat the 50,000 army on the opposite side, that's not such an extravagant hope.
A meeting on how to deal with the enemy was interrupted.
At the dojo barracks on the other side of the river, large armies were gathering, each ashigaru kept running out of the tents under the command of the samurai master.
Not long after, an army of about 20,000 people left the barracks and lined up densely along the river bank.
Looking from a distance, the dojo army in blue military uniforms is connected to the sky and the earth, and it is difficult to see the edge at a glance.
"What a mighty army! The army moved in an orderly manner, and every soldier walked in silence without the slightest panic. At first glance, it was a division capable of recruiting good fighters."
In the coalition army on the opposite side, Murakami Yoshiki and others watched, and couldn't help but sucked in a breath of cold air.
These small local tyrants in Shinano usually fight with thousands or hundreds of troops, even if the scale exceeds 10,000, it is difficult to see it once in a few years.
Now seeing the rigorous training of the army present and the scale of it, these little local tyrants who have not seen much of the world can't help being horrified.
"Strictly order the river bank defenders to strengthen their guard, and send me another 10,000 reserve troops, ready to reinforce at any time."
Yoshiki Murakami, who was temporarily elected as the leader of the coalition, spoke to a general beside him.
Before this river bank, 10,000 soldiers were left to guard the main road and dangerous beach, and firmly blocked all the possible crossings to prevent the dojo army from crossing the river.
Originally, they expected that with the danger of the Qianqu River and the so-called strictness of the coalition forces, it was impossible for the enemy forces on the opposite side to attack in a short time.
But now seeing the majesty of the dojo army, he couldn't help but feel panic, and his original self-confidence disappeared.
In order to be on the safe side, he couldn't help sending another 10,000 troops, so that he could barely feel at ease.
Soon, not far from the river bank, another 10,000 soldiers came out of the barracks where the 50,000 coalition troops were stationed, and rushed towards the river bank slowly.
"It's just a group of cowards, ordered to attack and cross the river."
The head coach of the dojo army, Tomita Yoshinari saw the cowardly performance of the opposing coalition army, and couldn't help sneering a few times, extremely contemptuous.
Following the commander's order, the 20,000 dojo troops that came out of the battalion quickly pressed down on the river bank, where there were bamboo rafts that had been pulled out all night for the past few days. This was the main tool for the 50,000 troops present to cross the river.