Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 143 Surprise Attack Team

On the wall of "Shicheng", the ninth flag of Wanjin Army was on duty.

Most of their ten-man team were sitting under the No. 3 arrow-shielding bamboo shed on standby, with only flag bearer Guo Taro and deputy flag bearer Shi Bodhisattva leaning against the battlements from time to time to observe the darkness outside the city for a moment - the previous flag bearer had been promoted, Guo Taro, the deputy flag bearer, became the new flag bearer, and Shi Bodhisattva, the non-commissioned officer, would temporarily take over as deputy flag bearer, and as long as he could read, he could officially take up the position.

Guo Tailang looked outside the city for a few times, but found nothing. He estimated that the interval was almost up, so he said to the stone Bodhisattva: "Shoot an arrow and see!"

The stone Bodhisattva did not say anything. He walked away and took cover behind the battlements. He lit the arrow, drew his bow and shot it. The flaming arrow flew far into the night sky and finally fell to the ground, illuminating a small area.

Guo Taro took two quick glances in the firelight, but still saw no one. The Stone Bodhisattva had not been attacked by any sneak arrows. It seemed that it was a quiet night and the enemy had no plans to harass them tonight.

Nabetaro felt a little relieved. If it were when he was a foot soldier, he would have found a place to secretly take a nap by now. But he didn't dare to do that in the Wanjin Army. Taking a nap while on duty was a serious crime among the "Eighty-Eight Beheadings" and the penalty was real beheading. He could only continue to keep quiet with the other soldiers and listen to the movements outside the city.

After a while, Shed No. 2 in the middle of the city wall and Shed No. 1 at the other corner of the city wall shot out fire arrows one after another, briefly lighting up the night sky. Guo Taro quickly took the opportunity to observe outside the city, but still found no trace of the enemy.

They took turns throwing and shooting flaming arrows - there was no moon tonight, and they had discovered that enemy reinforcements had arrived, so they raised the alert level and were more careful. Normally, they didn't need to do this so frequently - they kept doing this until the night, and it was almost time for a shift change, but it was still a very quiet night.

Until another fire arrow flew far away, and in the flickering flames, layers of dark shadows appeared vaguely.

Guo Taro's heart tightened, and he quickly called out and ordered the sentry to fire a round of fire arrows. The other sentries also found something wrong. Almost at the same time, a group of fire arrows flew from the city wall to the distance. With the help of these scattered lights and fire, Guo Taro saw clearly this time that a large group of enemy troops had begun to accelerate and approach.

Without hesitation, he put the iron whistle hanging on his chest into his mouth and blew it with all his strength. At the same time, he commanded the ninth flag to launch an attack immediately and use arrows to prevent the enemy from approaching.

As the shrill iron whistle on the city wall sounded, there was immediate movement inside the "Stone City". Whistles and loud orders rang out one after another. A large number of soldiers, sleepy but neatly armored, ran out of the house to form a line, and then, led by officers, began to run towards the city wall.

The war is about to start.

…………

Ishimochi Kensaburo (Mototsugu) was lying in a valley on the north side of Kitayama, his clothes and armor neatly arranged, except for his beloved "golden deer antler cap". After all, the deer antlers were too high and easily reflected light, making them unsuitable for infantry night raids, so he had to give it up with great reluctance.

He is a senior retainer of the Matsudaira family and a minor military instructor (swordsmanship instructor). His martial arts skills are second to none in the Matsudaira family. Now, he is followed by a full 500 elite men of the Matsudaira family, without any filler soldiers. They are the most powerful surprise attack team of this era, and the mission of their surprise attack team is to capture the enemy's large rock fortress on the top of the northern mountain.

This rock fortress is disgusting. It is the highest point in this wilderness. Any movement they make during the day, even if it is just sending a small force to harass, will be discovered immediately here. In a blink of an eye, the enemy's city can be notified to be prepared. At the same time, a large number of soldiers can be stationed here to support the front battlefield at any time. It is a huge trouble.

But this place could not be captured during the day. It was very difficult to push the bamboo and wooden objects up the mountain, and charging up the mountain in heavy armor would be a disaster, so they could only launch a surprise attack at night.

This idea was proposed by Asahina Yasunaga of the Imagawa family and handed over to the Matsudaira family for execution. As long as they could occupy the Kitayama Rock Fort, they would be able to have a clear view of the movements inside the "Stone City", and the visual disadvantage would immediately turn into a visual advantage. Moreover, the Kitayama Rock Fort was high up, protecting the northernmost watchtower of the enemy's Sheep Wall from attack. As long as they could take this place, they could seize the northernmost end of the enemy's Sheep Wall, making it impossible for the enemy to use the Sheep Wall for defense.

This is definitely the key core of the enemy's defense. Its status is no less important than the "Stone City" blocking the front. It must be captured in one fell swoop. However, Kensaburo Ishimochi left the camp late at night and circled here. He led his men to lie in this small valley but did not take any action for a while, just waiting for the front battlefield in the south to start.

According to the enemy's reaction that Asahina Yasunaga had observed before, as long as the "Stone Castle" on the south side of the mountain was attacked, the enemies on the mountain would try to attack and share the pressure of the attack on the "Stone Castle", and the enemies left behind in the rock fortress would also focus their attention on the south. This would be the opportunity for their surprise attack team. They could sneak up from the north silently. Even if they could not capture the rock fortress in one fell swoop, they could get very close. Otherwise, they would have to climb the mountain slowly in armor, and the enemy would just throw stones down, which would be enough to hurt them.

After arriving at the designated location, Ishimochi Kenzaburo waited patiently for nearly an hour before he heard a roar from the south, followed by shouts. The frontal battlefield finally began, Asahina Yasunaga began to lead the Chita clan to launch a fierce attack on the enemy's "stone city" and sheep wall at night, and Ishimochi Kenzaburo looked up at the rock fortress on the top of the mountain and found that it was also bustling, with lighting and fire rising, and he could vaguely see people running and shouting on the wall, and the enemy was gathering to the south.

Right now!

Ishimochi Kensaburo whispered orders back, and the lower-level samurai passed the message one by one. Soon, the Matsudaira family's surprise attack team was on the move. Everyone held a wooden stick tightly in their mouths, groped their way out of the valley, and began to climb to the top of the mountain with the help of the noisy sounds of the battlefield in front.

The journey was smooth. Previously, the Nohara family's gang was very crazy and chopped down and burned the entire mountain. There were not many trees on this hill to begin with. The bigger trees were immediately chopped down and dragged up the mountain to be used as building materials. The shrubs were directly burned by starting a forest fire to maintain a good attack vision. But now it was an advantage for the Matsudaira family's surprise attack team who had sneaked up. Even in the dark, there were not many obstacles. It took them only more than ten minutes to reach the halfway point of the mountain. At the same time, the formation gradually dispersed, forming an attack surface. After all, if they climbed to the top of the mountain in a long line, they would probably be squeezed into a ball, which was not conducive to climbing the city.

At this time, the fighting in the wilderness on the south side of the mountain was becoming more intense. Standing here, one could already see the flaming arrows flying around on the battlefield, rows of cannons spewing flames, burning bamboo and wooden walls, and the city walls that were set on fire by oil and firewood - this was also Asahina Taicho's suggestion. He suspected that the other party had used some kind of magic to turn mud into stone, and wanted to see if he could use fire to break the enemy's magic. Maybe with a random burn, the enemy's city wall would collapse.

Ishimochi Kensaburo took a far look at the battlefield in front, then led the team to continue groping forward. However, this time, they had not gone far when they felt a sharp pain in their feet. It was only through their willpower that they did not scream. They quickly sat down and fumbled to pull out the thing that had pierced the sole of their feet. After careful identification for a moment, they found that it was a "triangular spike".

He cursed inwardly that the Nohara family was so despicable, and quickly slapped the people around him to signal them that there was a "sharp weapon" on the ground. But it was a little too late. More than a dozen people in the parallel position with him had already been hit. However, everyone knew that the closer they were to the attack, the higher the chance of success, so no one screamed.

The surprise attack team had to slow down and grope along the ground, clearing away these "triangular spikes" while continuing to move upwards. After advancing a few dozen steps and about to cross the mountainside, they suddenly heard a loud bang from a cannon not far away, and a thick smoke gushed out from a dark pit, immediately knocking down two of Matsudaira Ieharu's gang who were groping forward.

Immediately afterwards, a shrill iron whistle sounded, and a black shadow ran towards the top of the mountain.

Ishimochi Kensaburo felt a chill in his heart. He didn't expect that even though they were fighting to the death in the wilderness, the enemy's sentry could still lie motionless on the mountainside without even getting up and looking around. No one had noticed him before.

Since they were discovered, Ishimochi Kensaburo was very decisive. He immediately stood up, drew his sword, and gave the order to attack with a desperate roar. The close retainers around him immediately blew the conch shells, and the five hundred men of the Matsudaira family jumped up, shouting and killing in unison. The people in the front carried bamboo ladders and rushed up, while the people behind bent their bows and shot arrows, providing cover in a rain of arrows.

The enemy on the rock fort reacted quickly as well. They did not move all their men to the south as Ishimochi Kensaburo had imagined. Before the arrows landed on the rock fort, a flash of fire appeared on the rock fort, and the sound of cannon fire became continuous. A wave of lead bullets rained down in an instant, and the men who had just stood up and rushed to the top of the mountain carrying bamboo ladders immediately fell down in a row with screams.

They had come up far enough, only a few dozen meters away from the rock fortress, and the hit rate of the cannon had obviously increased significantly, so a single gunshot would take a life.

But Ishimochi Kensaburo had nowhere to retreat now, and according to Asahina Yasunaga's observations during this period, there were only two hundred defenders in this rock fortress at most, and they might not all be armored soldiers. Even if they rushed forward under fire and suffered heavy losses, they could still win as long as they could start hand-to-hand combat.

He shouted loudly and screamed desperately, ordering his men to speed up and rush forward while the enemy was reloading, and to do everything possible to get close to the rock fortress. But then there was another wave of arrows, which instantly knocked down another group of them. Some of the men who were rushing forward desperately disappeared into a big pit, and were pierced by the sharp bamboo spears at the bottom of the pit, letting out extremely shrill screams.

The enemies on the city wall did not stop after two consecutive attacks with cannons and bows and arrows. A strong wind blew in the night sky, and a pile of sparking pottery jars were thrown over from afar by something unknown.

Some exploded in mid-air, emitting dazzling flames; some exploded after they landed, causing dirt to fly and thick smoke to billow, and the impact force was enough to blow people away.

Ishimochi Kensaburo stumbled. Although he was lucky not to be directly hit by the pottery jar, the sudden explosion of large balls of fire in the night sky and around him almost blinded him. Now he could hardly see anything and was dizzy and disoriented. He could not tell the difference, but he still relied on instinct to roll and crawl forward.

Victory or defeat depends on this one move, they must take this rock fortress no matter what!

(End of this chapter)