Chapter 1685: Strangulation

After hearing Tachibana Muneshige's assertion, Shimazu Michihisa clearly found it hard to believe. He looked at Tachibana Muneshige with suspicion. "My lord, are you certain of this?"

As a commander here, he naturally understood just how dire the situation was. The army under Tachibana Muneshige's command was in truth an amalgamation of the domain armies of various powerful clans and daimyo, and could not be considered a unified whole. Instead, each harbored its own intentions. Although Tachibana Muneshige had spent these past few months striving to weld the troops under him into a cohesive force, the limited time meant the results were still insufficient.

Under smooth and favorable circumstances, such a structure would not have mattered much. But after days of retreat and attrition, every domain army had suffered enormous losses. Under these conditions, morale had grown somewhat unsettled. It was not just Shimazu Michihisa alone; others also harbored the desire to withdraw. They simply lacked Shimazu Michihisa's high status and thus did not dare voice it in front of Tachibana Muneshige.

Tachibana Muneshige merely smiled faintly. "I know better than you what kind of man Ii Naotaka is. A junior like him — how would he dare act recklessly before me!"

With that, he turned directly and, taking a few close attendants, left the area.

He then mounted his horse directly and rode out of the city with his attendants, arriving at his own army encampment outside the walls. Immediately, he summoned several of his subordinate commanders to his side. These commanders quickly gathered around him, anxiously asking about the current situation, desperate to learn from him the strategy for what came next.

Unlike before, Tachibana Muneshige's expression was now utterly grim.

He waved for the commanders to quiet down, then raised a telescope to observe the situation at the front. By now, the shogunate army had already pressed to the very front of their lines — a vast, dark mass of troops, imposing and seemingly endless, stretching nearly beyond sight.

Though he had spoken so lightly before Shimazu Michihisa, in his heart he knew full well how dire the situation had become. It was solely to steady his subordinates' morale that he had maintained the same composure as before.

That the shogunate had actually sent the Tairō Ii Naotaka to personally lead a great army in an assault on the Kinai region had indeed taken him by surprise. In his view, with the shogunate's situation having deteriorated to such an extent, they should have been defending the Kantō to the death. Instead, they had weakened their forces in the Kantō and dispatched a large army to attack the Kinai. This could not help but make him sigh inwardly that the current shogunate truly had no capable men left.

He had previously been at Zhou Pu's side and had long known of the Great Han's plan. With Ii Naotaka marching out with a large army, the Great Han's strategy had already succeeded. Next, the Kantō would face a full-scale assault from the Great Han's army and navy by land and sea, and his own primary task was to keep Ii Naotaka's great army pinned down, preventing them from returning to aid the Kantō, thereby making it even easier for the Great Han to strike directly at the shogunate.

However, even though the shogunate had made a mistaken decision, he still had to face the enemy's pressure right now. At this moment, there could be absolutely no letting down of his guard.

"Gentlemen, the shogunate's great army has now pressed to the front of our lines. This is truly our army's most difficult hour!" Tachibana Muneshige lowered the telescope, then turned to look at his subordinate commanders. "Nara is but a small city and cannot accommodate our army. Therefore, we absolutely cannot retreat any further, or we will only be surrounded and annihilated by the enemy. Our army can only fight with our backs to the city, striving with all our might to drive the enemy back!"

At these words, the commanders looked at one another in dismay, but none spoke further.

This was indeed the truth. Although Nara was a city, its defenses were extremely crude, and it could not house the entire army.

"I have already dispatched a messenger to Kyoto. Lord Zhou has already led a great army and is hurrying toward Nara. As long as our army continues to hold out for a period of time, Lord Zhou will come to reinforce us." After laying out the grim reality of the current situation, Tachibana Muneshige shifted to rallying his commanders. "We only need to hold firm for a few more days!"

Upon learning that the Celestial Envoy had already brought a large army and was on his way, everyone visibly relaxed considerably.

During this period, through successive battles, the Great Han army had left an indelible impression on these men and had given them unshakable confidence. As long as the Celestial Envoy arrived, everyone believed they would surely be able to hold back the shogunate's great army.

"We have campaigned all this way and have already rendered great merit. The court's rewards have flowed without cease, and there will surely be even greater rewards in the future. But if we are routed here, all our previous achievements will be lost! Gentlemen, do you truly wish to see all your prior efforts go to waste?" Tachibana Muneshige swept his gaze over the several commanders, using his sharp eyes to inject them with drive.

"Enough. The situation is urgent. Gentlemen, we shall meet again at the victory banquet!" After saying this, Tachibana Muneshige waved his hand for them to leave. "I will command here in person, sharing life and death with you all!"

After rousing his commanders' morale, he sent them all back to their respective battle formations. He himself also remounted his horse, preparing to ride around and inspect, assisting his subordinates everywhere in resisting the enemy.

By this time, the shogunate army had also completed its formation below the city walls. Their military array was diverse yet orderly, their uniforms highly uniform, their armor gleaming — displayed before Tachibana Muneshige and the others in distinct, well-ordered tiers.

Then, a sudden stir arose at the front of the shogunate army's formation. The battle line, originally as tight and solid as a city wall, began to move. A great mass of shogunate soldiers bearing long spears pressed toward Tachibana Muneshige in a dense battle line.

Beside these spear-wielding soldiers was a group of soldiers carrying arquebuses. They were equally numerous, and their formation was even tighter. It seemed they were prepared to use them to bombard their own side's formation.

It appeared the enemy could no longer restrain themselves and were about to attack directly.

Tachibana Muneshige observed the enemy's formation unhurriedly, estimating the distance between the two armies' lines. Then, he ordered his own musketeers to likewise form up at the front of the line.

These meticulously trained musketeers, drilled according to the Great Han army's methods, arrayed themselves in several rows of battle lines, then raised their muskets and aimed them at the enemy formation.

"Fire! Prioritize their musketeers!"

When Tachibana Muneshige judged that the enemy had reached a distance sufficient for accurate fire, he finally gave the order for the musketeers to open fire.

Following the officers' loud commands, the frontmost row of musketeers began firing.

As if struck head-on by an iron fist, the shogunate army's formation at the front abruptly halted, and many in the foremost ranks collapsed directly to the ground.

After suffering this initial punishing blow, the shogunate army likewise formed up and began to return fire, the frontmost shogunate troops using their arquebuses.

These musketeers were all formerly arquebusiers from the various Kyushu domains and the Mōri clan's domain army. During this period, they had received training from the Great Han army, and their tactics and marksmanship had both improved considerably. The firearms they used were all Great Han military-issue guns, so their firing accuracy was far superior to that of the arquebuses they had used before.

Although they could not achieve precise aiming, under their deliberate control, the bullets still struck as much as possible toward those enemy musketeers at the front. Even with the deliberate cover provided by other shogunate troops, the enemy's losses were still heavy.

After taking the enemy's bombardment first, the shogunate army, having hastily reformed its lines, quickly launched a counterattack against this side. However, the quality of their firearms was far inferior to those of the army on this side, so at this distance, only a very few bullets could reach the enemy, posing no great threat.

And they were well aware of this situation. Thus, amid the uninterrupted arquebus fire, they continued to advance their battle line forward, seeking to close the distance between the two armies and alter this standoff where the exchange of losses was so disproportionate.

Although they suffered no small number of casualties, they gradually achieved their objective step by step, pushing to a point only a few dozen paces from the enemy formation. At this distance, their numerical superiority could finally be brought to bear. A large number of arquebusiers fired continuously without pause, on one hand covering their own army's continued advance, and on the other, inflicting as many casualties on the enemy as possible.

Seeing this, Tachibana Muneshige immediately ordered his musketeers to pull back and disperse to the rear of the spearmen's formation.

"If only we had a few field cannons," he thought with no small regret.

During this time, the Great Han army's combat skills and fighting ability had given him many shocks, but what he admired most was still their devastatingly fierce cannon fire, especially those mounted on gun carriages that could be maneuvered flexibly and easily in all directions, providing their own side with powerful fire support.

With the shogunate army's formation so tightly packed now, if they could bombard it with field cannons, they could probably repel this wave of assault directly.

But this pointless lament did not last long. Tachibana Muneshige carefully observed the frontal formation once more, then immediately mounted his horse and, taking his close attendants, rode toward the left flank. A portion of the musketeers who had withdrawn from the frontal battlefield also moved with him toward the left wing, loading their weapons as they went.

Although the front was now under great pressure, in his judgment, the shogunate army had not committed its full strength. Instead, it seemed to be drawing his side's attention. Their objective did not appear to be a frontal breakthrough of his army's formation. After carefully observing the movements behind the opposing army, Tachibana Muneshige concluded that they were seeking to break through from his left flank.

Just as he reached the left flank, another stir arose from the shogunate army's side and rear. This time, their momentum was even greater than before, with rolling clouds of dust drifting toward this side.

Tachibana Muneshige immediately recognized the sound as the dense thunder of hooves, and his expression changed slightly. He at once urged the officers on this side to defend carefully, while simultaneously beginning to contract the battle line, making the formation denser.

And before their eyes, hundreds — perhaps even a thousand — horses came surging toward them. Although Japanese horses are not tall and their carrying capacity is limited, when so many cavalry launched a charge, it was still like an earthquake, making the very ground tremble slightly. These cavalrymen all held long iron spears in their hands, the sharp blades glinting with blinding light under the sun.

Behind the cavalry, a large mass of shogunate troops also rushed toward this side at a rapid pace, following closely in their wake. Their steps were so fast they could barely maintain their formation. It seemed the plan was to first have the cavalry smash open the battle line here, then let the infantry come and utterly crush this enemy force.

Such a display of force made the defenders' faces change color, but the experienced officers quickly steadied the line, urging the soldiers to tighten their formation. They all knew that in the face of a massed cavalry charge, a hasty retreat meant they could never outrun the horses. Running would only get them killed faster! And if this flank of theirs was broken through by the enemy, these cavalrymen and the great army following behind would surely continue to drive deeper until they shook the entire army's battle line — and that would mean a disastrous defeat.

Under the supervision of their commander-in-chief Tachibana Muneshige and the urging of the officers, these soldiers, already somewhat panicked, finally steadied their footing. They formed several square formations, then raised all their long spears to face the front. The soldiers at the very front crouched down directly, angling their long spears upward at a slant while driving the spear shafts into the ground, facing the onrushing enemy.

By this time, the musketeers transferred over as reinforcements had also just barely arrived at the battlefield. They formed several small square formations behind the spearmen's battle line, then began loading their weapons and waiting to engage the enemy.

Under Tachibana Muneshige's watchful gaze, the charging cavalry drew closer and closer, until finally they slammed directly into the front of the waiting spearmen's formation. The horses in the frontmost rank were immediately impaled by the long spears. As blood burst forth, the riders were hurled heavily into the air. Yet the long spears in their hands had already stabbed into the opposing formation; several spears even skewered multiple men, and screams rang out without end.

These cavalrymen soon crashed heavily into the spearmen's formation. Some were killed outright by the fall, while the rest, still unconscious, were promptly pierced through by long spears.

No one paid attention to that first wave of casualties. The cavalry behind continued to charge forward, launching their assault. They had all received the Tairō's order: break through the enemy formation at any cost, and bring victory and hope to the shogunate.

Under the cavalry's reckless, all-out assault, the spearmen began to shrink back, and the originally tight battle line started to loosen considerably. At this moment, the shogunate infantry following up from behind also surged forward. In their hands they held long naginata, howling as they launched their attack on this side.

"Bang!"

The musketeers, having finished loading, opened fire on the several gaps that had been broken through at the front. The continuous thunder of musket fire inflicted massive casualties on the enemy in a short time and also steadied their own army's battle line once more.

Next, a group of soldiers wielding tachi launched a counterattack against the opposing side, and melee combat began at the front lines with the enemy troops who had already fought their way into the formation. These troops were Tachibana Muneshige's personal soldiers, brought directly from the Yanagawa Domain, and also his trusted unit, personally trained over decades. He had placed this unit on the left flank from the very start precisely to prevent the enemy from launching a surprise assault on the wing.

In the Warring States era, although the mainstays of the battlefield were the long spear and the arquebus, in close-quarters, hand-to-hand combat, the sword still had its use. What was popular on the battlefield at the time were generally katana of two to three shaku, used for close-range melee. However, Tachibana Dōsetsu had been unconventional, favoring the use of long swords of three to five shaku for his subordinates, and had personally invented a swordsmanship combat method unique to the Tachibana clan, not taught outside the family: the "Kage-ryū."

Long swords were quite inconvenient on the battlefield, because in the constant state of close-quarters combat, a poorly executed slash with a long sword could instead result in a fatal counterattack. But when the enemy had suffered artillery fire or their ranks had fallen into chaos, the long sword could play the role of dealing a devastating blow to the enemy.

As Tachibana Muneshige was the adopted son of Tachibana Dōsetsu, he too was thoroughly versed in such matters. He saw that after the initial clash, the enemy cavalry had already been considerably depleted and their footing was still unsteady, so he wanted to seize this moment to close in and fight them in a grinding melee.

And under the alternating hammer blows of arquebus fire and katana, the enemy ranks began to waver, their casualties mounting steadily. The cavalry, originally meant as a shock lance, had after suffering heavy losses become bogged down within the enemy formation, losing their initial impact. This left them cut off in scattered pockets, like the foam left behind on the shore after the tide recedes.

"All troops, charge!" Seeing that the moment was now ripe, Tachibana Muneshige immediately ordered the formations around him to press forward against the foe.

A great mass of men surged to the front line, their weapons clashing with the enemy's. Everywhere was the ringing clash of steel and furious roars. Tachibana Muneshige rode his horse straight to the very forefront with his personal retinue. Though stray shots and hidden arrows flew all around, he stood utterly fearless, shouting orders in every direction, urging his men to resist the enemy with all their might.

Under Tachibana Muneshige's personal supervision at the front, the enemy troops who had charged into his own formation began to falter. They gradually fell back, and Tachibana Muneshige raised his head, observing the enemy's movements behind their battle lines.

If it were him, he would now continue sending troops to hammer the already-shaken left wing, seizing this chance to force a decisive engagement with the enemy — at the very least using his army's numerical advantage to wear them down. Yet as far as his eyes could see, apart from scattered units trickling in, the enemy launched no further large-scale assault. Instead, there were signs of a withdrawal.

"Ii Naotaka is too cautious after all," he sighed inwardly.

It seemed Ii Naotaka was somewhat taken aback by his own resistance, fearing that forcing a continued assault would shake his own army. So at the final juncture, he had chosen caution, continuing to grind away in a war of attrition.

But that was easy to understand. As a Great Elder of the shogunate, bearing the hopes of the entire shogunate at this moment, he surely dared not take too great a risk. He could not afford to lose.

At that moment, with Tachibana Muneshige's all-out counterattack, the shogunate forces also began to retreat. In the end, the entire left wing fell silent once more. By now, the vast majority of the soldiers from both sides who had first clashed had already departed this world, leaving the open field strewn with a great expanse of corpses.

Tachibana Muneshige had no time to lament the fickleness of life and death on the battlefield. He grabbed his waterskin, took a swig of water straight from it, then rode his horse back toward the main camp.

By this time, the central battlefield had also been locked in fierce combat for a long while. But this had not been the main axis of attack, so after the flanking assault had failed, they too gradually pulled back. As he watched them retreat from sight, Tachibana Muneshige knew that, at least for today, he had once again held off the enemy's attack — though at an enormous cost.

And that very night, he finally received definite word of Zhou Pu — Zhou Pu had now brought his entire army to a place just over twenty li from Nara and would reach Nara the next day.

He had held on to the very end at last. A great weight finally lifted from his shoulders.