In the age of cold weapons, what is the most important factor in winning a war? Morale!
Just after half of Sorayama Ichiha's bullets were fired, the morale of this elite army was completely depleted. What kept them in place and did not flee was only their long-term discipline and inertia.
At the beginning, the generals kept dispatching troops, and the soldiers also moved quickly, intending to kill the people who attacked secretly, because they would never think that just one musket could kill them all, but they were outflanked and pursued countless times,
Interception, luring the enemy, storming... all failed, and when no living samurai could even see Kazuyo Sorayama and Hiko, all that was left was boundless despair, and a deeper numbness after despair. In the end,
They almost watched helplessly as their comrades beside them fell to the ground and died silently as blood holes appeared on their foreheads following the gunshots. They did not intend to find cover to save themselves or kill the enemy for revenge. In fact, they were already dead before that, and the only ones alive were
It's just a breathing shell.
Not only these banners, but even Bigu felt a little intolerable about this. As an orthodox swordsman, he could cut his opponent into several pieces without trembling his eyebrows, but this kind of target shooting-like act of killing the same kind of people was really not any kind of thing.
What a normal person can accept is that only a leaf in the empty mountain remains unmoved, and the rhythmic sound of gunfire does not stop for a moment. Each sound represents the death of a life, and it has never missed!
In this era, an army with a battle loss rate of 10% but not defeated can be regarded as an elite. In fact, in the Battle of Okehazama three hundred years ago, Oda Nobunaga defeated Imagawa Yoshi with only 2,000 troops.
The 50,000-strong army beheaded Imagawa Yoshimoto, which can be said to be the most classic case of defeating more with less in Japanese history. However, the number of heads afterward was only 3,000. You must know that it is more difficult to kill the enemy on the frontal battlefield than to chase down the defeated troops.
More than ten times higher, it can be seen that the Imagawa army, which was known as an elite force at the time, had already begun to retreat when its battle losses were less than 1%.
Based on this standard, the group of shogunate bannermen responsible for guarding the Ii family, whose death toll has already exceeded 50 but has not yet collapsed, can be regarded as the elite among the elite.
Kazuyo Sorayama didn't understand this. He just aimed silently and pulled the trigger. Once all the bullets were fired, he would rush out and kill people with a knife. It was simple and purposeful.
"Stop it first and talk to them before continuing." Higu couldn't help but sigh softly. Seeing the unbearable look in his friend's eyes, Sorayama Kazuyo silently put away his gun and spoke in his unique hoarse voice:
"I am a leaf in the empty mountain. I only came here today for Ii Naobi. I don't want to commit more crimes, so..." He paused and raised his voice: "I will give you ten breaths to think about it. After that, who will stay?"
You will die here."
The simple and straightforward words combined with the cold tone seemed extremely harsh in the middle of the night. Everyone present seemed to have not recovered from the sluggishness. No one got up and ran away, but some look finally returned to their eyes. Looking around again, it seemed that there was no
No one seemed to want to abandon the formation and run away, so they still stood where they were.
Higurashi couldn't help but feel a little worried. What he worried about was not that the samurai would resist to the end and consume their energy and increase the risk, but that he didn't want to see samurai who had no enmity against them being killed like chickens and dogs for no reason.
Lose.
The general in the formation roared hoarsely: "No one is allowed to move! The enemy must have run out of bullets. We must guard the formation and wait..." Gunfire rang out again in the darkness, and the guard beside the general fell to the ground and died without a word.
There was confusion, anger, relief and a little bit of... resentment in his eyes?
The gunshot seemed like opening the valve of a dam, and all the banners dispersed like a flood. In a moment, there was no trace left. Under the vast night, only the general and the last personal guard were left. The rest had already died on a leaf in the empty mountain.
Under care.
Kazuyo Sorayama put the gun behind his back without any interest, and he and Hiko Seijuro who took a deep breath slowly stepped out of the darkness and walked towards the main entrance of Ii's residence, looking at the general in front of him as if there was nothing there.
He watched helplessly as the two men kicked open the door and disappeared into the dark courtyard. The general and the guards did not move at all. After a long time, the general sighed sadly, took off his clothes, opened his clothes to expose his belly, pulled out his ribs to hold them, and calmly
He ordered: "Jing Tianjun, please excuse me."...
Ii Naobi had been listening attentively to what was going on outside, his face as calm as water. Even when he learned that the shogunate's army had completely escaped, he still did not show any nervous expression. But the retainers' determination was obviously not as good as that of the elder. A pale-faced man
The middle-aged samurai tried to calm down, and said in a trembling tone, whether to comfort the head of the family or himself: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter... I also have muskets, which will definitely kill the thieves. What's more, there are hundreds of elites in the house, and there are only two thieves.
, even if it’s just a leaf in an empty mountain,...” He muttered something that no one could hear clearly, and then shouted: “Everyone, the time has come to show your bravery. Even if you fight to the last person, you can’t fall into the well.
Years of fame!"
Except for a few colleagues who had good friendships on weekdays who responded sparsely, no one had the intention to respond. What happened outside was reported back one by one, and the more powerful the martial arts people were, the more frightened they were. At this time
Facing the demon-like Sorayama Kazuha and not disbanding on the spot, he is considered a loyal and brave person. There are a full 500 elite banners outside!
This power was more than enough to kill a middle-ranking daimyo. The entire army was wiped out after only holding on for an hour. What did they mean? The musketeers who were ambushing the courtyard and Ii Naobi were also frightened. There were six of them, but which one
I dare say that we can defeat the shogunate banners outside, let alone completely destroy them. Those banners are not wooden men, they will pursue them! Once a few soldiers get close to them, they will die!
The screams coming from the distance are getting clearer and clearer. If we keep this speed, the enemy will be able to find this place in at most a quarter of an hour. At that time, it will be a head-on battle, and life or death will be decided!