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Chapter 634: Purple Sword and Iron Ox, the general supports Yandong in the expedition! 4200(1/2)



As soon as Qingdeng finished speaking, everyone at the scene looked over.

A bunch of scrutinizing eyes fell on the map pointed by Qingdeng.

Maps of this era are naturally not comparable to satellite maps of the 21st century.

There are no contour lines, and there is no 3D terrain.

However, this map is as simple as it gets, but the few things it should have—traffic roads, the distribution of important strongholds, the direction of the mountains, etc.—are well marked on it.

Looking at it, even people who don't understand military geography at all can see at a glance how high the military value of Ise is after seeing the surrounding terrain of Ise and the traffic roads passing through it.

Iga is located in the southeast of Kyoto, in the Ueno Basin area, with high surroundings and low in the middle.

The southeastern side of Kyoto is surrounded by overlapping mountains and hills. After one mountain, there is another mountain, and after one mountain, there is another hill.

When talking about Iga, "Iga Ninja" is an unavoidable topic.

Iga and Koga are both one of the birthplaces of Japanese ninjutsu.

During the Warring States Period, when heroes were divided among themselves, more than thirty ninja schools emerged at one time, the most famous of which were Iga-ryu and Koga-ryu.

The original Iga-ryu ninjas were just a separatist force that dominated the mountains, commonly known as the "Iga clan".

After Oda Nobunaga came to dominate the capital, the Iga people, who were no different from an independent kingdom, naturally became a thorn in his side.

Finally, between 1578 and 1579, Nobunaga gave his second son Nobuo Oda the order to conquer Iga.

However... facing the Iga people, who were facing the side ridges of Hengfeng, the entire country was fortified, and all the people were soldiers, the Oda army's first Iga expedition failed after paying a huge price.

Nobunaga was very angry about this result, and in 1581 he once again sent out a large army with all the best troops to invade Iga from all directions.

After paying a huge price, the resistance of the Iga people was finally ended.

Even the Oda Army, which was invincible in the world, suffered a defeat in Iga despite fighting at home... It can be imagined how dangerous the geographical situation of this area is.

Iga, located in the basin, is one of the few areas with relatively flat terrain in this large mountainous area.

With such a terrain, it is destined that many transportation lines will converge here.

If the rebels who raised troops in Ise want to attack Kyoto, Iga is the place they must pass through.

As long as Iga is occupied, the bandit army will have great autonomy.

Between Iga and Kyoto, there is a large mountainous area with many peaks.

Generally speaking, there are two routes to choose from from Iga to Kyoto: the south route and the north route.

Each of these two paths has advantages and disadvantages.

Take the southern route and attack the Yagyu Domain, which is only 10,000 stone tall and very weak.

In front of the Yagyu Domain is the ancient city of Nara with many deer.

After capturing Nara, you can take advantage of the situation and head north, all the way to Kyoto unimpeded.

The southern route has the shortest distance, and there are few strategic points that need to be occupied. As long as the Yagyu Domain and Nara are in hand, the southern gate of Kyoto will be open.

It's just that... Nara is an ancient city with a longer history than Kyoto.

In terms of prosperity and solidity, although Nara is not as good as the three capitals (Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka), it is by no means a "tofu" that can be rubbed easily.

With the newly created bandit army, it will not be easy to conquer Nara.

To take the north route, you must first capture Koga, which is located above Iga.

After occupying Koka, you can enter Tokai Street. Along Tokai Street, which has convenient transportation and a lot of supplies on the way, attack all the way to the west, capture Kusatsu and Otsu one after another, and then attack Kyoto.

The distance to the North Road is very long, but the advantage is that Donghai Street can be used as a support, which greatly reduces the pressure of marching and supplying.

Theoretically speaking, in addition to the south and north roads, there is another road to take, and that is to take the middle road - directly across the mountains sandwiched between Kyoto and Iga.

However, this is just like "troops march out of Ziwu Valley", they are military concepts that can only exist on paper.

The mountains that lie between Kyoto and Iga are basically... no, they are simply an undeveloped area!

Looking up, there are virgin forests everywhere, and there are not even any decent roads.

Based on the poor road conditions and the organization ability of the bandit army...if they forcefully take the middle road, their marching speed will be as slow as a tortoise.

Seito didn't have to do anything, just lead the Shinsengumi to block the place where they came out of the mountain.

When the rebel army walked out of the mountains miserably, Qingdeng charged forward without thinking, and was able to take away the exhausted and weak soldiers in one wave.

Therefore, there is no need to consider the middle way.

Of course, the bandit army can also choose to bypass Iga.

But this would require a very long detour.

Looking at the entire Gyeonggi region, except for the Osaka Plain and the Kyoto Basin, the rest of the area is steep and mountainous, and there are very few roads that can be traveled.

If the bandit army chooses to bypass Iga, they will have to pass through most of the capital to reach Kyoto.

In this way, not only did it take a long time, but it also made the fatal mistake of "exposing one's butt to the enemy's front".

At that time, Qingnog, who uses Iga as his base of attack, can take advantage of the geographical advantage of extending in all directions to directly send troops to cut off the supply line of the rebel army, or go one step further and quickly blitz the side of the rebel army and defeat it.

All in all, the so-called "debatable ground for military strategists" is nothing less than this.

Tokugawa... no, the key to victory or defeat between Seito and the bandit army lies in "the ownership of Iga".

Iga is controlled by the former, and the initiative lies in Qingto's hands.

If Iga is lost, it will be troublesome.

When everyone's eyes focused on the location he pointed to, Qingdeng slowly said:

"Choosing the battlefield in Iga can not only effectively intercept the bandit army, but also occupy an overwhelming geographical advantage to make up for the lack of military strength."

In professional terms, this is called "the width of the battlefield is very narrow"

In layman's terms, it is "one man is in charge of the barrier, and ten thousand men are not allowed to open it"!

If the war started in Iga, the bandit army with tens of thousands of troops would not be able to spread out in such a dangerous place.

Having said this, Qingto moved his finger from "Iga" to "Kyoto".

"Take half a day to assemble the army, prepare supplies, and march early tomorrow morning!"

"Take the shortest southern route, passing through Nara and the Yagyu Domain, and going straight to Iga."

Qingdeng's fingertips drew an "L" shape on the map.

"Build a city in Iga, and then wait for work!"

The word "city" in Japanese and the word "city" in Chinese do not have the same meaning.

The latter refers specifically to "city", while the former mainly refers to "castle".

In other words, the "building a city" in Qingdeng's words, in modern vernacular, means "building a field defensive bunker."

During the Warring States Period, Toyotomi Hideyoshi once made a major military achievement that is unknown whether it is true or not - "Sumama One Night Castle" - it does not mean that Toyotomi Hideyoshi built a city overnight, but that he built a city in one night.

A simple field fortress was built during this period.

"Our army does not lack warriors who dare to charge into battle, but it only lacks cavalry that can be used to detect the enemy's situation, chase and destroy the enemy, as well as archers and iron gunners who can launch long-range attacks."

"Let me think about it...Higo-sama, if you can lend me 20 cavalry, 20 archers and 20 iron gunners, I will be very confident to completely defeat the rebel army."

"Only sending 60 soldiers can supplement the combat power of our own army, and at the same time maintain the combat power of the Aizu Army to the greatest extent. Kill two birds with one stone."

Qingdeng finished explaining his military concept in a few words.

The combat plan he proposed, while ensuring the Shinsengumi's victory rate, can be said to not only echo the ideas of the "militant faction" headed by Sagawa Kanbei, but also take care of the "militant faction" headed by Saigo Norimu.

The war-avoidance mentality of "blame-shifting".

Both Zhenfufu and Aizu saved their own face.

As Qingdeng finished speaking, the scene suddenly changed from "listening carefully" to "talking about it".

Matsudaira Yongho pondered, thinking.

After a while, he asked aloud:

"Building a city... Lord Tachibana, please forgive me - do you have any generals under your command who know how to build a city?"

In Japan, which has yet to establish a systematic system of scientific and engineering knowledge, city building is an absolutely rare skill.

Let a person who doesn't know anything about architecture build a city, let alone fences, horses and watchtowers. He might not even be able to dig a trench well.

The technical content of building a city is so high that only a civil engineer can do it!

Even if the scope of investigation is broadened to cover the entire history of Japan, there are still very few generals who are proficient in fortification.

There are even fewer people who know how to rely on field fortifications to fight wars - Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the Warring States Period was one of this rare group.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a master who was very good at building forts and knew how to use field fortifications to attack the enemy.

Putting aside the fact that there are many mysteries about the "Sumama One Night Castle" that is not known to be true or not, it was only after he became the commander of a regiment under Oda Nobunaga and was responsible for the war in the Western Kingdom that he brought his castle-building skills to the extreme.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi's series of military achievements in attacking the Mori clan have been compiled into a popular saying: "Hungry kills three trees, thirsty kills Tottori, without a single soldier, the water overwhelms the tall pine trees."
To be continued...
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