Chapter 154 The Terrifying Eight Treasures Great Hualun

The farmer who was swinging his hoe desperately was sweating profusely, but he didn't even bother to wipe it off. There were many people like him, but some had given up completely and were lying flat on the side of the fields where they had worked hard in the past, with despair on their faces, just like dead people.

In the end, the farmer dropped his hoe and burst into tears. His crying infected more and more people, and finally there was only despair left.

The spring plowing had already been delayed, and now they were asked to serve during the busiest farming season, and their little remaining rations were taken away.

Without these strong laborers, the farmland could not be cultivated at all. The harvest was barely enough to pay taxes to the samurai masters, let alone eat them. In other words, they were doomed.

When the farmers in the Otomo family's territory were in a dilemma, the spies hidden there by the Mori no Ninja took the opportunity to incite a riot.

Without the support of the upper class, a simple peasant uprising would basically be doomed to failure.

Not to mention the lack of decent weapons and organization, the problem of food and fodder alone is enough to cause any group to collapse halfway.

The peasants rebelled because they had no food to eat and were left with no other options. If they could survive, no one would do such a thing that would result in death.

Therefore, even if they start an uprising, they will soon collapse due to lack of food and clothing, or become mere bandits.

Japan is no exception. How can a farmer without any training defeat a samurai who is fully armed and spends all day practicing killing techniques?

These farmers also knew that they were doomed, but with no way out, they would just accept their fate without anyone to encourage them. Unfortunately, the Forest Ninja had already been hiding here, so they would miss the opportunity.

After being instigated, these farmers who knew they were going to die finally gave it their all. Since they were going to die anyway, they might as well rebel.

In fact, the most crucial point is that the people of Mori no Ninja told them that as long as the Moroboshi family occupied this place, they would have a good life, because the Moroboshi family was very rich, so the tax was very little.

Moreover, if they make enough contributions, they will not only receive rewards, but may also become samurai lords.

This was undoubtedly the last glimmer of hope for these desperate farmers, so they naturally clung to it.

The Forest Ninjas also smuggled a batch of weapons and rice balls through a secret path, which boosted the morale of the farmers and finally gave them the courage to resist.

Encouraged and funded by Mori Shinobu, these penniless farmers fought against the Otomo samurai who had come to the countryside to steal food and conscript men, and achieved considerable results. Yan Xu was slightly pleased with this and deliberately exploded Mori Yu.

After hearing the news, the Otomo family was furious, because this was a very bad and dangerous beginning. As the lowest level of exploitation, these weed-like farmers dared to resist. It seemed that they had to use samurai swords to teach them who is the master.

It just so happened that at this time, the Moroboshi family accelerated their advance, forcing the Otomo family to urgently mobilize all their manpower to deal with it, and they had no time to take care of the growing mob.

"It seems that the Moroboshi family has no intention of leaving any chance for the Otomo family to survive." Otomo Daimyo said with a sigh. As the overlord of the sub-island, he had never thought that he would end up in such a situation. Naturally, he was filled with emotion.

"Even if we win this battle, it will be a pyrrhic victory. We can't say whether we have enough energy to suppress the riot. We must prepare for the worst." Kadokuma Ishimune looked much older, but he was full of energy and was not discouraged even in the face of desperate situations. He knew very well that the current situation was that if they won, they would have plenty of time to suppress the riot, but if they lost, there would be nothing more to say.

"I have ordered people to send the young son to the Mori family as a nephew, and to have samurai ninjas hide their identities to serve as his strength when he grows up." Otomo Daimyo said with a complicated tone. After all, the biggest enemy before has now become the last hope of the Otomo family. He is not too worried about the safety of the young son. As long as the Mori family wants to occupy Fukushima, they need the name of the Otomo family, and his bloodline is the best reason.

"Okay, now let's fight with all our strength and let the Moroboshi family know that the overlord of Fukushima can only be the Otomo family." Kadokuma Ishimune said with great momentum, and also awakened the last ambition of Otomo Daimyo.

Otomo Daimyo, together with Kadokuma Ishimune, suppressed all objections from the Otomo family and led the entire army to fight against the Moroboshi family.

Generally speaking, the defenders will not give up geographical advantages, such as cities, villages, and forts, which, if used well, are enough to offset the invaders' several times greater military advantage.

The problem is, after seeing Fukushima City turned into ashes, who would dare to defend the city without fear of being burned down by fire?

Therefore, the Otomo family would rather give up the advantage of defending the city and fight a field battle, all of which was forced.

Yan Xu didn't care whether he was forced or not. When the two sides were about to come into contact, he immediately ordered the Babao Army to occupy the high ground, and then the iron artillery team formed a line and moved forward.

The iron cannon team, which had increased in number to a thousand men, was divided into four rows, with two hundred and fifty men in each row, and they pressed forward step by step, bringing heavy pressure to the Otomo family, because they had recognized that this army was fully equipped with iron cannons, and it was obvious that the reality was more cruel than they had imagined.

Faced with the tremendous pressure from the Moroboshi family, the Otomo family decided to gather all the samurai to charge together, including more than one hundred very precious cavalrymen.

This is obviously a gamble, but there is no choice but to gamble. Facing the Zhuxing family's devastating Eight Treasures Dahua Wheel, any city defense battle or positional battle will be a dead end.

After painstaking research, Kadokuma Ishimune discovered that the only way to win was to send an elite force to charge directly into the battle formation and disrupt the enemy's formation. Otherwise, there would be only the possibility of a crushing defeat, because flesh and blood bodies could not withstand the Eight Treasures Great Wheel of the Moroboshi family.

Kadokuma Ishimune often lamented how terrifying the Eight Treasures Great Wheel was.

Yan Xu had anticipated this. When facing an army equipped with firearms, he could either fight back with firearms or use cavalry to charge.

The problem was that firearms were expensive and scarce. The Otomo family could barely gather a few dozen of them, and they also had to deploy ports to prevent attacks from the Moroboshi family's navy. This was obviously a drop in the bucket.

As for cavalry, there are no conditions for that. There are no horses on the secondary island, and there are no donkeys except deer, so they must be purchased from the main island.

However, the Mori family did not allow ironware, war horses, livestock, etc. to enter the Fushima Island. By the time the Moroboshi family destroyed a navy and discovered something was wrong, it was too late. They barely sent some supplies to support the Otomo family, but were driven away by the Moroboshi family's navy.

The cavalry, which was not large enough and not mature enough, basically had no way out when facing the arrayed musketeers. Not to mention that the Babao Army, carrying the fire extinguisher version of the Babao Dahua wheel, was right behind the iron cannon team and could provide fire support at any time to break up the momentum of the cavalry charge.

The samurai of the Otomo family may not be afraid of death, but the horses are not. Especially when faced with loud noises and flames, it is difficult for them to restrain their instincts unless they are specially trained.

Unfortunately, firearms were not yet popular in Japan during this period, and there was a lack of large-scale cavalry troops, so there were no war horses specially trained for this type of training.

Some of the Otomo family knew about these problems, while some did not, but they had no choice. This was the most likely way they could think of to win, even if many people would die.

(End of this chapter)