Warring States Survival Guide

Of course, there was still a bit of chaos during the process; you can't expect a major operation to happen without some confusion. But under the veterans', sergeants', and officers' handling, it quickly disappeared. The wagon-forts began leaving camp, advancing toward Tinuma Castle's moat. Truck after truck, filled with dirt, was forced into the moat, while a dozen or so squads in heavy armor were divided into two waves, preparing to breach the wall, open a gap, and swiftly clear out nearby enemies.

The firepower cover began early as well. Many iron-clad shields were raised on the wagon-forts, Iron Gunners took their positions, and at the officer's command, began fiercely shooting at any hostile force behind the palisades or on the walls. At the same time, several arm-cranked small catapults were set up right on the wagons, launching a barrage of "incendiary bombs" into Tinuma Castle.

Hmm, the Wanjin Army had actually discontinued the use of catapults for a while. After Harano started casting cannons, he thought catapults were a bit outdated as weapons. But in several later internal drills, it was discovered that when assaulting castles in this era, catapults were actually more effective than small-caliber cannons—at least until explosive shells were put into live combat, catapults still had a role. So when producing "wagon-forts," the Wanjin Army re-equipped them with small catapults.

Now, dozens of catapults, using cranked winches powered by horses, wound up their arms and launched three to five oil jars at a time. In a short period, they'd throw the three thousand mixed oil jars they had brought right into the city. Besides, Harano never hesitated to spend money on training—he believed spending on training was much more cost-effective than paying death gratuities. After all, if these guys survived, they could still be productive after retiring; if they died, that's just a pure loss.

So he didn't care about the gunpowder either—the Iron Gunners and Flame Machine Gunners went all-out, and allowed the new Iron Gunners to fully experience the urgency they never could feel during training.

For a while, oil jars trailing slow-matches sliced through the night sky like meteors, launched batch after batch according to the catapult arms' arcs, flying neatly toward various predetermined distances.

The crack and thunder of artillery grew even louder, forcing the Tinuma Castle garrison—barely reacting in time—to shrink behind their parapets and palisades, unable to poke their heads out to fight back, unable to stop the infilling of the moat, or dismantle defensive structures like the bamboo palisade.

Mi Jiulang and the others were scared stiff—Mi Jiulang in particular sprinted the whole way to find Harano, and when he saw him, he was practically beside himself, stammering, "Nozawa-dono, Your Highness, you…what are you… what are you doing?"

It wasn't fear, it was anger. Harano started the assault without a word, but Mi Jiulang still had his people in there!

Indeed, even after failing to persuade Ozawa Masahide that afternoon, Mi Jiulang hadn't given up—he went back to discuss with Hosokawa Shigekatsu and others, and managed to dig up someone from the "Kawamata Group"—Tsubouchi Katsutarou.

This man was Ozawa Masahide's nephew and also the brother-in-law of Deputy General Ozawa Yoshihiko—his sister was Ozawa Yoshihiko's concubine. So Mi Jiulang and the others planned, pooled up some money, and sent Tsubouchi Katsutarou into the castle overnight to try to persuade his brother-in-law to talk sense into Ozawa Masahide, or at least to figure out why Ozawa Masahide was so stubbornly loyal to the Saito family.

It went smoothly—mountain castles in Japan at this time had their advantages, but relative disadvantages too. Their frontline defenses weren't so strict. Getting in or out wasn't too hard—otherwise Inuyama Castle wouldn't have ended up with fewer and fewer defenders. Plus, Tsubo Sei Shoutaro could use his brother-in-law's name to bribe the garrison—a meeting was basically guaranteed.

But no one expected that just as Tsubo Sei Shoutaro got in, Harano started acting crazy over here—gunfire thundered, unleashing a firepower unseen before in such a short time. It looked like he was going to wipe out Ozawa Masahide in one stroke.

This was just burning money! In Mi Jiulang's opinion, if you just piled up all those oil jars and gunpowder as copper coins under the walls, eight times out of ten the garrison would surrender. Why bother killing them?

Besides, if Harano takes Tinuma Castle by storm, who gets credit for the capture?

Mi Jiulang was still hoping this merit would help redeem his earlier mistakes and raise his status. So why the hell was Harano going nuts and stealing his thunder?

Mi Jiulang's eyes were bloodshot with anxiety—if there weren't such a vast difference in their status and strength, he'd have eaten Harano alive without even dipping him in soy sauce. But Harano didn't care at all, and spoke gently: "Don't worry, Lord Mi Jiulang. Since they don't want to talk with us, I'm fighting to force negotiations. Tomorrow, you'll definitely have your chance to shine."

"You're just trying to apply some pressure?"

Mi Jiulang relaxed a little. If it was only for show of force, it wouldn't make much difference—in fact, it might even help the persuasion effort. That would mean Harano was, in a way, helping him out—doing him a big favor.

He sighed in relief, his face regaining respect, gave an awkward laugh, and was just about to offer thanks when a muffled boom sounded. He felt the ground tremble under his feet and looked around in surprise, only to see the wooden earthen wall and portions of the palisade at the mountain's foot blown sky-high, debris raining down like a storm.

Beyond the breach the fire raged—some Ashigaru barracks, stables, and storehouses were already ablaze, smoke billowing so thickly it blocked the view. The garrison couldn't even think of putting out the flames—hell, they couldn't even control the fire's spread.

Harano, too, looked toward the spot where the explosion had gone off, nodding slightly.

The first defensive line of mountain castles in this era really was paper-thin—not much different from the "castle walls" of ordinary clan estates. Pretty much makeshift stockade level. Also, Japanese castle-building really did love using wood—big, thick logs at that. So fire attacks really are a solid option.

Next, let's see how the defenses are inside, and try controlling a sector to test the enemy's response.

Thinking this, Harano left Mi Jiulang behind and turned toward the staff officers, instructing them to go up front and observe firsthand how the enemy deployed and defended, so that they could draw up tactical templates for future siege training.

That's what counts. Whether Mi Jiulang gets his glory or not—well, that can wait.