In the extremely arid and hot desert Gobi region, mirages, which are rare to see, mysteriously appeared on the outskirts of Noda Castle, attracting the attention of all Takeda retainers and auxiliary soldiers in the city.
In the end, Takeda Nobushige, like a magic stick, raised this ordinary mirage to the same level as a miracle.
It is used to highlight the prosperity of the Takeda family's martial arts, and even God will favor it, especially Amaterasu, who sent a miracle, indicating that the scene in the scroll will be part of the future glory of the Takeda family.
The unstable factors in the city have dispersed, the auxiliary soldiers and the defenders are performing their duties, and everything seems to be on track.
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Time passed quietly for another ten days...
In the seemingly silent Noda Castle, several major events happened quietly here and now that could change the direction of history...
The first thing: the old driver sent someone to take out a batch of iron cannons covered with oilcloth from the cellar of an abandoned warehouse in the auxiliary camp.
No one knows the whereabouts of these iron cannons. Only the old driver controls the hiding place because this has been his biggest secret for three months.
Liu Shiba only knew that the veteran driver secretly developed some simple machine tools, then made precision parts and assembled them into sophisticated 38-cap rifles.
Strictly speaking, this batch of firearms cannot be considered imitations. Although the appearance is the same, the casting material of the core part is completely different from the original.
If a genuine 38-gauge gun has a chamber that can withstand a thousand shots, an experienced driver may only cast half of it.
The second thing: the number of this batch of firearms, after ten days of rush production, reached an astonishing 3,000.
Liu Shiba initially planned to distribute these guns to Maori Katsunaga, asking him to reasonably distribute them to the detachments of the Five Route Army that needed the most firepower.
And Takeda Nobushige conveyed a piece of news to Liu Shiba at the right time. It was a personal letter from Sanada Nobui!
The letter was brought to Noda Castle by the messenger eagle from the borders of Kai, Hojo and Uesugi families...
After reading the folded snow-white letter in his hand, Liu Shiba squinted his eyes, but in his heart he gave up the intention of handing over the firearm to General Mouri Katsunaga.
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Nobuyu Akiyama is Takeda Toshikawa!
Sanada Nobuyin, who defected during the battle with Tokugawa Ieyasu, served as deputy garrison.
And this letter was written by Xinyi.
The content of the letter was that Sanada Shini, in accordance with Liu Shiba's plan, mobilized retainers and private soldiers to form a miscellaneous army of 5,000 to defend the Hojo family and the Uesugi family, and the number was reduced to 2,000.
The remaining three thousand miscellaneous Ashigaru are rushing to Noda Castle day and night and will arrive soon.
As for the borders of Kai, Hojo and Uesugi, if they occupy dangerous areas and refuse to defend them, two thousand troops plus some new iron cannons should be enough...
And these three thousand newly recruited miscellaneous troops, on their way to Noda Castle, also escorted back a huge amount of military rations, metals, minerals and other raw materials.
In addition, the important retainers and generals of the Takeda family, and their respective heads in Kai, used all their strength to collect millions of gold, silver, and copper coins.
With this batch of copper coins, the original salary for high-intensity labor, which was only enough to last for ten days, will be extended to fifteen or twenty days.
At the end of Sanada’s letter, there was a special note:
"This batch of hard currency and grain that arrived at Noda Castle is the final wealth pieced together by the Takeda family, the important ministers, military commanders, and even the common people from all the territories.
This is the Takeda family, all the family assets in Takeda territory...
The wealth of Takeda's entire territory will be gathered in Noda Castle for the lord's needs. All the farmers and retainers in the territory hope that the lord will win in one battle...
In the end, the successful collection and transportation of this batch of goods was entirely due to the public mobilization order issued by the police guard Kosaka Masanobu and sent back to various households in Takeda, which played a key role.
If the Takeda family gets out of crisis, Mr. Kosaka Masanobu will take the greatest credit!"
After reading the letter, Liu Shiba had a complicated expression on his face. He held the letter with his hands behind his back, turned his back to the city wall and arrow tower, and looked at the wilderness in the distance...
After a long time, Liu Shiba turned around, carefully folded the letter and put it back into his arms.
Then, he raised his head and looked at his personal guard Qin Liu, who was always on the left and right, and Takeda Xinlian, who was delivering letters to the city wall, and said solemnly:
"In a war, no matter whether you win or lose! No matter how large the territory is, the people who will suffer the most serious damage in the end will still be the hungry and cold people!"
Qin Liu had no expression on his face, cupped his hands and said:
