Chapter 430: Rush to Buddha
There is a special name for the troubles caused by Japanese monks, called Ikko Ikki, which shows how influential and frequent they are, and there is even a special name for it.

Unfortunately, although everyone knows that these monks are rich and restless, very few people dare to provoke them.

There are three reasons: one is faith, two is being strong enough, and three is having great momentum.

The reason for the belief is that when Buddhism was prevalent, the island country's Shintoism was still imperfect. Buddhism, which had no competitors and had the upper hand, expanded wantonly. Even in the modern world, the Japanese want to be buried in the temple cemetery after their death, and they are willing to pay high fees to those abbots who drive sports cars. This shows their influence.

With enough influence, the Japanese Buddhists began to occupy land, collect rent, and keep monk soldiers, because if you have money, you must have weapons, otherwise the money will become someone else's.

Also, because there was no ban on alcohol and meat, these monks with shiny foreheads were even stronger than the warriors. They wore robes and held butcher knives, and they really chopped people down and prayed for their souls to be reborn, not even giving the soldiers a chance to become ghosts.

That would be fine, but the key is that the monks are sticking together, and the community of interests they have formed is the largest force on the island country. Neither Takeda nor Uesugi dare to provoke them, and only Oda Nobunaga, a willful and arrogant guy, dares to take real action. Therefore, those monks were caught off guard, and it was not until today that they completed their preparations to destroy this living devil.

"Defeat the enemies of Buddhism and ascend to paradise!" The monks, with their faces covered by white cloth, shouted from a high place with naginata in their hands, and a group of fanatical believers rushed towards the Oda family's army without looking back.

Similar scenes can be seen everywhere at this time. Thousands of believers left their hometowns with their own dry food, just to fight for their beliefs. The scene was fanatical and depressing, which made people sigh that the Buddhists in the island country were really good at brainwashing.

Everything about an island country is small: small land, small country, small people. Even if they fight, the fight is slow. Dozens of people quarreling is the norm, hundreds of people fighting is a major event, and tens of thousands of people fighting is something that will go down in history. Therefore, facing thousands of people, many people in the Oda family were frightened. After all, the only one who really wanted to destroy Buddhism was Oda Nobunaga, and the retainers and samurai under him were just unlucky guys who were dragged into the water by their willful lord.

Fortunately, the Oda family is no longer what it used to be, and the 3,000 elite soldiers are good at fighting. They quickly stabilized themselves under the scolding of the samurai.

One thousand foot soldiers holding four-meter-long spears were at the front of the formation. This kind of super-long spear has been very popular recently, and there are even ones that are longer than this.

However, the longer the gun is, the higher the requirements for the user. Without a certain amount of arm strength, it is difficult to grasp the center of gravity. If you can't even hold the gun steadily, what effect can it have, let alone facing the enemy's charge. First of all, you have to keep steady and not panic. This requires even higher mentality and discipline.

The middle formation is composed of elite armored soldiers. Their role is to fill in the gaps in the front formation. After all, once the spear formation is broken, the left and right will have no time to support and they can only fill in. At the same time, they also bear the important task of charging into the formation, so the knife holders are preferably brave and daring.

On both sides were arquebusiers. Due to Oda Nobunaga's preference and the funding from the Moroboshi family, these arquebusiers had been well-trained and could still calmly wait for orders even when facing the large and powerful Ikki.

At this time, Oda Nobunaga's face was not very good. He was certainly not afraid, but he did not expect that this group of bald guys would be so powerful and so able to bewitch people. They could easily gather thousands of people. What he could not tolerate the most was that most of the people in front of him were honest farmers and civilians before, but under the instigation of this group of bald guys, they dared to charge into the battle? !
If civilians can pick up swords and go to the battlefield, what is the use of soldiers?

It is easy to imagine how many people would die in this way, but these monks who claim to be compassionate all day long did not hesitate to trick these civilians into dying.

If Oda Nobunaga was just unhappy before and killed monks and destroyed temples, then now he has developed a sense of mission, and the bald thief should be killed!

With conviction, Oda Nobunaga became more decisive and gave the order to massacre without mercy.

Pity the people and persuading them to surrender are things that happen after the war. Oda Nobunaga would not be so naive as to think that he could make these fanatical followers retreat by just shouting a few times in the battle.

The first people to be killed in the Warring States period were innocent people. This was true for Oda Nobunaga, his retainers and samurai, and even those foot soldiers who had experienced the battlefield knew how to survive, which was to kill the enemy first. For mobs, there is no better weapon than the arquebus.

The loud roar, the blinding flames, the invisible attacks, and the companions who suddenly fell to the ground and vomited blood all put tremendous pressure on the believers who were instigated.

When their faith is broken by death and blood, the cruel reality will teach them again how to be afraid, so they will rush forward slower and slower, and the slower they rush, the more opportunities the cannon will have to shoot.

Even if they were lucky enough to reach the front of the formation, how many people would dare to move forward facing the spear formation that looked like a jungle of iron thorns?

The ones in front were trying desperately to stop, while those behind kept pushing forward, and suddenly the scene became a mess.

Oda Nobunaga's eyes lit up and he immediately seized the opportunity to give the order.

The more stable the gun formation is, the better, because once chaos occurs there will be no chance to reorganize, and losing the formation will be tantamount to death.

However, when facing timid enemies, the gun array can also demonstrate amazing lethality.

After receiving the order, the gun formation collectively stepped forward.

The gun formation does not have only one layer, especially when using four-meter-long spears, the people in the back two or three rows can attack the enemy, so if they charge forward collectively, it is no different from a hedgehog slapping you in the face. There is no place to hide, and there is no ability to break the formation.

The Ikki were originally farmers who had no training and just came in a swarm relying on their bravery. So when facing the spear array, the teammates on the left and right and behind them not only could not bring any sense of security, but also became accomplices who pushed them to death, because there was no room for dodge at all. What's more, they had only simple bamboo spears in their hands and did not even have decent clothes. At one time, they were pierced by the spears one after another.

In an instant, hot blood gushed out from their pierced, skinny bodies, staining their tattered clothes red, dripping into the mud under their feet, taking their lives.

They were born in humble circumstances and died in humble circumstances, just like weeds that are trampled underfoot. No one knows why they were born and no one knows why they die. They just go in whichever direction the wind blows and have never had any autonomy.

However, no matter how ignorant they were, they still knew how to be afraid when facing death. Chaos began to spread among the rebels. After all, not everyone was fanatical enough to risk their own lives.

The monks are very experienced in this. When slogans don't work, it's time to use the butcher's knife.

Now the people who have been instigated have only two choices. One is to rush to the Buddha and go to the paradise after death. The other is for the Buddha to manually send you there.

Anyway, as long as they put down their butcher knives, Buddha will forgive them. Therefore, when they raise their butcher knives, they not only feel no pressure in their hearts, but also want to laugh.

(End of this chapter)