Chapter 238: The Mobile Fortress
The Wanjin Army’s engineers performed so exceptionally that it greatly piqued the interest of the resourceful and intelligent Hashiba Masakatsu, who observed the Wanjin Army with great caution throughout their journey.
To him, the Wanjin Army’s soldiers seemed subtly sturdier and half a head taller than the followers of ordinary Daimyo and local lords. Their physique far surpassed that of conscripted rookies and ashigaru. Were they all meticulously selected? Or were the commoners of the Chita Peninsula naturally stronger?
He couldn’t say for sure and couldn’t guess the reason, but just by looking at the Wanjin Army’s average physique, he knew these people were not to be trifled with, and their individual combat capabilities couldn’t be poor.
One shouldn’t underestimate this small gap. In a common brawl, a bit more strength is enough to win. Moreover, on the battlefield, packed together in combat, there isn’t much room for maneuvering. Most of the time, strength means survival, and weakness means certain death.
The Wanjin Army’s weapons and armor were also excellent. They all wore black lacquered, moisture-proof, thick-plated dōmaru, wide-brimmed peach-shaped iron helmets, and thin iron cheek guards. Although they weren’t covered from head to toe like modern armor, making the wearer resemble an iron blob, all vital areas were adequately protected while maintaining flexibility and battlefield mobility.
Judging solely by the dōmaru, Yuan Ye was indeed a great landlord. Equipping a single soldier like this would cost at least fifty to sixty koku, and that’s not including military uniforms, socks, leggings, spears, matchlock guns, canteens, mess kits, or raincoats.
If you included those items, a single soldier would cost an average of one to two hundred koku, which is about what a low-ranking samurai would have, at most with some bows and arrows or blunt weapons capable of piercing armor, but not much more.
Hashiba Masakatsu watched for a while, feeling that the Wanjin Army’s equipment was also impeccable, clearly a significant investment. As for their spirit and morale…
The Wanjin Army’s morale was exceptionally high. They marched towards the battlefield without fear, and their discipline was beyond reproach. Their marching was orderly, their formations neat, with all soldiers looking straight ahead, no whispering, no looking around. The spears carried on their shoulders moved in unison, rising and falling like waves as they advanced, as if these soldiers had only one thought in their minds: to advance, advance, and advance further, with no other thoughts.
Hashiba Masakatsu couldn’t help but turn to look at his own subordinates. Their formations were uneven, their numbers varied. Even though no one was shouting loudly, many were talking in low voices, giving the impression of a flock of sheep returning home after grazing.
It’s not that goods are bad, but that they are compared. Before, he hadn’t felt there was any problem, but now, looking again… it was truly different. Even though his own force of over five hundred men included many seasoned veterans, many of whom had taken lives and were definitely brave and willing to fight, he still felt inferior.
So, this was the feeling of a strong army?
The more Hashiba Masakatsu watched, the more he felt he had lived in vain. It was like a frog in a well suddenly being carried out by a big bird, opening its eyes to the world.
This feeling even made him somewhat disheartened, and his desire to achieve great deeds began to wane.
If the armies outside the Kawana region were all of this caliber, then he might as well stay in Hashiba Village and continue his water transport business. Otherwise, coming out would just be a futile death.
However, he quickly shook his head and temporarily dismissed this thought. At least the armies in Mino were different. Those armies were not much different from his “Kawana Group.” At most, they had more and better armor than his men, but they weren’t insurmountable.
The Wanjin Army was probably quite special.
His curiosity about the Wanjin Army grew. As he looked again, he noticed that his surroundings had been replaced by a large number of matchlock gunners. These matchlock gunners had even simpler protective gear, with the dōmaru reduced to just a chest plate, but the craftsmanship was equally exquisite. Their formations were also neat as they marched, but between these matchlock gunner units, a large number of horses and vehicles were being transported.
The horses were all good horses, mostly strong and young draft horses. Apart from differences in coat color, their teeth looked remarkably similar. This fit his newly formed stereotype of Wanjin: everything was uniform, everyone was the same, everything seemed deliberately instructed and then trained for a long time, creating a strange sense of artificiality.
The vehicles these draft horses were pulling were also peculiar. They were of the wagon fort type, extremely heavy. The wheels and walls were very thick, and the carriage was fitted with numerous iron-plated, perforated shields that could be raised.
At the same time, some vehicles were very long and covered with oiled cloth made from paulownia wax. Their contents were not visible without lifting the cover.
As transport vehicles, these were excessively heavy and had too many unnecessary features. But if they weren’t transport vehicles, why were the Wanjin Army bringing them?
Were they for charging formations?
Japan has historically been relatively isolated, with over 80% mountainous and riverine terrain and very little fragmented plains. There have been almost no instances of war chariots dominating its military history. Hashiba Masakatsu observed them carefully for a long time but couldn’t figure out what these “Wanjin war chariots” were for, only speculating that they were a type of war chariot.
Yuan Ye was also observing these “fortified wagons” with A Qing and some officers.
These were new products, the result of the Wanjin Navy giving back to the Wanjin Army. Or, one could say, this was the dividend the Wanjin Army received from the matchlock gunners during their “sales expedition.”
The primary form of manifestation was the draft horses.
The Chita Peninsula does not produce horses, and Owari lacks horse farms. They rely entirely on horse dealers to transport them. Therefore, Wanjin has a severe shortage of even the draft animals needed for production, making the Wanjin Army purely an infantry force. Sometimes, even Yuan Ye had to lend his horse to a messenger, let alone use horses specifically for pulling vehicles.
In fact, he had previously wanted Kinoshita Tōkichirō to raise horses for him on the Chita Peninsula because horses were so scarce. The Chita Peninsula was indeed unsuitable for large-scale horse breeding due to its natural environment, which he couldn’t change. The small horse farm he had built there had no yield and was essentially declared a failure, transitioning to cattle farming.
However, this problem has been resolved since the “sales expedition.” The Hojo Clan were poor and were willing to trade horses from the Takeda Family for Wanjin’s gunpowder, matchlock guns, printed cloth, and porcelain. This greatly eased their financial pressure, and they could even make a small profit at times.
The Satomi Clan, engaged in a conflict with the Hojo Clan, was not to be outdone and had even more allies than the Hojo Clan. Discovering that Wanjin merchants offered relatively high prices for horses, they actively imported horses from the Northeast and Hokuriku regions, then concentrated them around Tokyo Bay to sell to the Wanjin people.
Of course, they didn’t sell many warhorses. Apart from the batch Yuan Ye requested, they generally wouldn’t sell warhorses to Wanjin merchants.
The Hojo Clan, Satomi Clan, and even the Takeda Family were relatively tight-lipped about strategic resources like warhorses, and their prices remained high. Rare steeds were sold at exorbitant prices. Only selected draft horses, packhorses, and incidentally bred donkeys and mules were not of much concern to them, and they were willing to sell them for money and goods.
However, this was enough for Wanjin. Warhorses were pure financial waste in terms of production. Instead, draft horses, packhorses, mules, and riding horses had value.
With a source of horses and the boom in Wanjin’s maritime trade, many people were transporting these popular goods back. The Wanjin market did not hesitate and immediately implemented Hayek’s principles. The price of ordinary horses was halved and then halved again within a month. The Wanjin Army could finally purchase them in large quantities at low prices, and Yuan Ye no longer had to secretly look at the military expenses list and gasp for breath.
Then, after acquiring over a thousand strong draft horses, and with the Chita Peninsula not lacking in wood or carpenters, Yuan Ye and Chief Engineer Okabe Igen brainstormed for a while and developed the “fortified wagon.”
The prototype was inspired by the Battle of Lipany in 1419 and the Battle of Sudoměř in 1420, where the Hussite army used “wagon fort tactics.” They first defeated an assault of over two thousand royalist cavalry with over four hundred men, and then withstood an assault of over a thousand knights from the Order of St. John, shaking the world at the time.
Of course, their victory was also greatly related to the terrain. Jan Žižka utilized ponds, wetlands, and marshes for flank protection, forcing the knights to face the crossbow bolts head-on. However, Yuan Ye recalled and pondered for a while, believing that the Wanjin Army could also use the “wagon fort tactics” from over a hundred years ago, and it would be very suitable for them.
As an engineering enthusiast, he always acted on his ideas. After modifying the “wagon fort tactics,” they were implemented by the Wanjin Army.
The modifications weren’t extensive. They used modified large vehicles as cover to resist enemy arrows and lead bullets, and then counterattacked with matchlock gunners and small cannons carried within the vehicles. Simultaneously, spearmen, flailers, and grenadiers were positioned in front of the wagon formations to prevent enemies from forcibly climbing over and breaking through. In the future, they even planned to hide a small contingent of cavalry within the wagon formations to launch a counterattack and crush the enemy at critical moments.
Simply put, this was a form of static defense tactic, a crude method he devised to deal with cavalry and large infantry assaults when primitive matchlock guns couldn’t be used in “line-of-battle” formations.
Matchlock guns couldn’t form tight battle lines. After firing, the matchcord and sparks would scatter. Matchlock gunners usually carried a lot of gunpowder. If they stood shoulder to shoulder, after firing, there was a significant chance of igniting their comrades, causing great chaos and severely damaging morale.
Therefore, matchlock guns couldn’t completely stop enemies from getting close. Matchlock gunners still needed melee troops like spearmen and sword-and-shield soldiers for protection. And once melee combat occurred, even with good armor and training, casualties couldn’t be avoided in the chaos.
However, Yuan Ye didn’t want too many people to die. His strict military discipline was built on a foundation of high welfare and generous compensation. Moreover, he currently only controlled one province, with agriculture and industry and commerce occupying the majority of the population. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have so much money to spend. Therefore, he was short on troop sources and had only managed to arm less than three thousand regular troops, unable to bear significant casualties.
Thus, he developed the “fortified wagon” and planned to adopt a “turtle tactic” for a period. If someone wanted to fight him, he would deploy the wagon formations and engage in ranged combat, achieving a high exchange ratio. At the very least, he wouldn’t lose. If the enemy ignored him, he wouldn’t care either. He was based on the Chita Peninsula and was not threatened. He would slowly advance into enemy territory, bit by bit eroding their foundations, or threaten their vital points, forcing them to clash their heads against his “fortified wagons.”
In any case, he was prepared to do so. Losing some mobility was acceptable. After all, there was no perfect tactic in this world. Wanting to be stable and fast at the same time was not easy. The most important thing in war was to leverage one’s advantages; there was no need to become a six-sided warrior!
However, the “fortified wagons” had only just begun to be equipped. He was unsure if they would be effective in Japan’s terrain, which was rich in rivers and mountains. This trip to help Yaguro was also intended to observe their marching performance, serving as a low-intensity practical exercise.
Currently, it appears…
He had well-trained engineer units, so crossing rivers with vehicles was not a problem. Their speed, damage rate, and repair speed during large-scale troop movements were consistent with previous test data, indicating they were generally usable.
At the very least, they would be fine as infantry accompanied by transport vehicles. These vehicles could also carry a lot of provisions and tents, improving the self-sufficiency of large infantry units in the field. They could also carry small cannons and move quickly, serving as excellent mobile artillery carriers and ammunition vehicles.
However, more observation was needed to see how they integrated with the army. Would a few breakdowns cause formation chaos? The Wanjin Army also needed to adapt to long-distance marches with “fortified wagons” and deal with unexpected situations like vehicle malfunctions. Military officers and non-commissioned officers would need to gain experience.
Yuan Ye paid no attention to Hashiba Masakatsu’s cautious observation. He had seen too many historical figures and was no longer impressed. He was mostly indifferent and spent the journey discussing topics related to the “fortified wagons” with his officers. However, this time, he would likely only be able to observe their marching effects, as there might not be an opportunity to use them in actual combat.
Their true battlefield utility would be on the Ise Peninsula.
Once their performance and operating procedures were completely satisfactory, and the opportune moment for combat arrived, he would lead hundreds of “fortified wagons” to slowly advance across the Ise Peninsula, occupying territory and solidifying Wanjin’s main domain.
