Chapter 144: The Small Flag Is Dead!!!!!
Ishimochi Kenzaburo, swept along by the crowd, stumbled and scrambled over trenches and pitfalls before finally reaching the rock fortress.
The scene here was already a living hell. Matchlock guns from the rock fortress and towers unleashed a continuous barrage, while explosive clay jars were occasionally thrown down, causing people to scream and fall. Hot oil also rained from above, instantly engulfing a large area in agonizing screams as people writhed on the ground, creating utter chaos.
Ishimochi Kenzaburo froze for a moment, then instinctively grabbed a follower who had hot oil poured on his face and was screaming in pain, using him as a shield against the lead shot and arrows falling from the sky. He wiped his face forcefully, finally regaining some composure. Glancing around, he saw a scaling ladder erected not far away, with Matsudaira family followers desperately shouting as they climbed. However, they couldn’t reach the top of the city wall, falling back down after climbing only a short distance.
He observed his surroundings for a moment, finding no better position. Discarding the now-dead follower in his hand, he charged forward, forcefully pushing aside a follower who was about to climb the ladder. His eyes blazed with ferocity as he took the lead in scaling the wall.
As the Matsudaira family’s small tactics instructor, he was one of the vanguard warriors designated early on, which was why he was leading the troops at the forefront.
At this moment, his value became apparent. Having trained in martial arts since childhood, his body was honed through countless trials, and he possessed extensive combat experience. Even clad in heavy armor, his movements remained agile. With a katana in his mouth, he climbed rapidly, several times faster than ordinary followers. His reflexes were exceptional; seeing a shadow flash at the parapet and an enemy thrusting a spear downwards, he immediately spun to the back of the ladder. A moment later, a mournful cry was heard as a close attendant vassal directly behind him was struck in the head and face, immediately tumbling off the ladder.
He paid no mind to the fate of his attendant vassal. On the back of the ladder, using only his hands, he climbed a few more steps while suspended before forcefully twisting his waist and returning to the front of the ladder.
He was now very close to the city wall. Taking a brief breath, he instinctively swung his arm to deflect an arrow shot at him from the side. With a powerful push of his legs, he sprinted the last few steps onto the wall. Releasing the katana from his mouth, it fell into his hand, and he immediately raised it to strike down an archer who was about to shoot.
The enemies defending here were numerous. Seeing an enemy suddenly appear on the city wall, they were stunned for a moment before quickly reacting. The three closest spear wielders simultaneously thrust their spears at him, while the remaining one discarded his spear and drew a katana from his waist, lunging directly at him, intending to force him back down the wall.
Although these three enemies reacted quickly and their attacks were swift, to a swordsmanship master like Ishimochi Kenzaburo, they were full of openings. He sidestepped one spear, then grabbed the shaft of the other with one hand, using the enemy’s momentum to push him backward. The enemy screamed as he and his spear tumbled off the city wall.
At this point, the last katana strike reached him. However, his sideways movement made the blow awkward, and the katana only scraped the lacquer off his exquisite iron armor, creating a shower of bright sparks. It barely caused him to stagger, failing even to draw blood. Using the momentum of his stumble, he gripped the katana’s hilt with both hands and executed a reverse *kesa-giri* (diagonal cut), splitting the last enemy’s abdomen open. He then followed with a spinning horizontal slash, striking the neck of another spearman who hadn’t yet retracted his weapon. While it didn’t sever the enemy’s head, it caused him to instantly collapse.
In a flash, Ishimochi Kenzaburo bravely led the charge, fighting three enemies alone and killing them all, sustaining only minor damage to his armor’s paint. However, he didn’t become complacent, nor did he pay attention to the cheers of the followers below. Forcing himself to suppress his heavy breathing, he let out a roar and brandished his sword, intending to charge forward.
Based on his long experience as a vanguard warrior, he believed that once he reached the city wall and continuously killed the defending followers, it would greatly intimidate the enemy. If he could then muster his remaining strength and charge forward like a madman, he could scare them into retreating.
They wouldn’t need to retreat for long; as long as the enemy hesitated to engage out of fear for their lives and became disoriented, the others could climb up continuously, and the city would be taken.
However, this time he miscalculated. As he roared, the enemy also shouted, their voices filled with extreme grief and anger, so loud that they drowned out his own roar—”The small flag is dead!!!!!”
According to the Wanjin’s Eighty-Eight Slashes: Those who retreat in battle or whisper to each other shall be executed; those who defend poorly and lose their positions shall be executed; if a superior officer falls in battle and their subordinates fail to provide adequate support, resulting in no casualties, or if a small flag bearer dies and their soldiers suffer no casualties or achieve no merit, all shall be executed as a warning.
Now that their small flag bearer had died on the spot, every soldier in this unit, without exception, would face execution after the battle if they suffered no casualties or significant injuries that rendered them unable to fight. If they abandoned their positions and fled, they would also be executed, committing two capital offenses. They would die even more miserably, and their families would be implicated, stripped of all basic rights enjoyed by Wanjin citizens, essentially reverting to the status of “family retainers,” but this time as true “servants,” with no prior privileges.
The soldiers of this small flag unit instantly had their eyes turn blood red. This armored samurai who had climbed up was going to kill them all, and possibly even some of their families!
At this point, the fear of death was no longer as important, or rather, the soldiers’ desire to survive had overwhelmed the fear of death. Before the cry of “The small flag is dead” had even fully faded, the unit raised their swords and spears, surging madly towards this section of the parapet. They had to kill Ishimochi Kenzaburo on the spot; they couldn’t even let him escape, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to explain themselves to the military police after the battle.
Even with his martial arts training since childhood, exceptional talent, and superior skill, Ishimochi Kenzaburo couldn’t withstand such a group of desperate madmen. If not for his excellent armor, he would have been impaled on the spot. He could only desperately swing his sword to defend himself, retreating step by step. Within a few steps, he was back at the parapet. However, he managed to create a breakthrough with his extraordinary bravery, buying a little time. The attendant vassals behind him had already climbed up one after another. Seeing him surrounded and in imminent danger, they immediately let out a war cry and joined the fight.
For a time, around this small section of the parapet, a bloody melee ensued, with screams merging into one. Neither side would yield an inch. After a few more powerful swings, Ishimochi Kenzaburo managed to cut down another person, but he felt his strength completely depleted and could no longer hold on. Seizing the opportunity when a follower beside him was stabbed, he forcefully pulled the body towards him and, with his last ounce of strength, pushed backward, temporarily escaping further attacks.
He quickly gasped for air, trying to recover his strength, while rapidly scanning left and right to see how the other vanguard warriors were faring. He felt his luck was poor; this section was heavily guarded, making it difficult to break through, so he might not be able to rely on them.
Upon looking, he saw that besides his own position, two other locations had managed to push through the enemy’s firepower and reach the wall. However, once on the wall, they were still unable to disperse the defenders. The “followers” of the Yuan Ye family were different from those of ordinary local lords; their combat effectiveness and willpower were exceptionally tenacious. Faced with the powerful assault of armored samurai, even after several of their comrades were killed, they showed no sign of fleeing with cries of “The city is breached!” Instead, they became even more frenzied, surging forward. Those behind thrust with spears, while those in front drew their swords and hacked. Most of the armored samurai who had ascended the wall were killed, and the followers behind could only crowd at the parapets and battlements, struggling to hold their ground. Essentially, as many as climbed up were killed.
The situation was even worse than his own, and at first glance, it seemed quite strange, as if the Yuan Ye family were about to charge madly down from the parapet, and the Matsudaira family was blocking them with their bodies, preventing them from passing.
The firepower from the rock fortress had not significantly diminished. This rock fortress was built with extreme luxury; its walls were extremely wide and flat, capable of housing a large number of armed personnel. The four corners featured towers with bastions, and large numbers of matchlock gunners and archers were still firing wildly from them, unhindered, shooting at the enemies below the rock fortress, holding a complete advantage.
They had to quickly capture the towers and kill the matchlock gunners and archers inside, otherwise, not many people would be able to ascend from behind…
Ishimochi Kenzaburo’s heart grew anxious after watching for a moment, but then he felt a sharp pain in his side. Several followers in front of him had been killed, and an enemy with a blood-stained face, eyes red with fury, had stabbed him in the side with a spear. However, the spearhead was blocked by the armor plates, only managing to penetrate the flesh slightly, forcing him to retreat.
Fortunately, this enemy was immediately cut down by Matsudaira family followers who had climbed up behind him. This Matsudaira family follower, in turn, was struck in the neck by another enemy’s sword and slowly collapsed in a daze…
Immediately after, two more spears thrust towards Ishimochi Kenzaburo. Their hatred for this heavily armored samurai, whom they couldn’t seem to kill, was absolute; they were determined to kill him first.
Ishimochi Kenzaburo had no choice but to muster his remaining strength and repeatedly slash. He was once again caught in a meat grinder. It was as if he were stuck in a quagmire. Even though the enemies’ martial arts were very poor, their moves repetitive and not worth mentioning, he managed to kill several more enemies with his superior swordsmanship. However, he still couldn’t advance or expand the breakthrough. The enemies were fearless, charging forward relentlessly, fighting to the death. Some even went berserk when their comrades died, throwing themselves forward to trade lives.
Exhausted and repeatedly wounded, he lost all sense of time. His mind was solely focused on holding the parapet. After an unknown duration, he suddenly heard a sharp, childish female voice from behind the enemy, shouting something in the Owari dialect. Immediately, the path before him cleared as the enemies suddenly scattered to the sides, revealing a giant matchlock gun behind them, its muzzle as wide as a bowl.
Ishimochi Kenzaburo froze for a moment, but his long years of combat made him instinctively sense danger. He instinctively grabbed a follower to shield himself. Then, an extraordinary roar echoed, and the follower in front of him was struck as if by a giant hammer, slamming backward and knocking him over the parapet. The Matsudaira family followers surrounding the parapet simultaneously screamed as they were riddled with countless iron sand and lead shot, resembling a honeycomb.
As Ishimochi Kenzaburo flew through the air, his last thought was, “It’s over, the southern enemy has returned to reinforce…” Immediately after, he crashed heavily to the ground. Intense pain surged through his body, blood seeped from his nose and mouth, and he convulsed, gradually losing consciousness.
The most famous small tactics instructor of the Matsudaira family, the best swordsman of this generation in Mikawa Province, and the recipient of the “first blade” and “vanguard” titles over ten times, lay in a peculiar posture on a small mountain without even a proper name, most likely never to return to Mikawa Province.
Shortly after, similar giant roars began to sound continuously from the towers of the rock fortress. Large swathes of iron sand and lead shot began to sweep across the followers above and below the rock fortress. The Matsudaira family finally could not hold on.
