Chapter 34

In the small mud hut of Masahiro, the atmosphere was heavy at this moment.

After listening to Masahiro's detailed account, everyone else in the hut fell into deep thought.

"Your Highness, we should still fortify the castle. The ashigaru in the domain have only been trained for a short time, and they are clearly no match for the bandits in a direct confrontation," Ogasawara Kuniharu spoke up first.

"What? Fortify the castle? We must never surrender to the bandits. This is the home we built with our blood and sweat. The population of the domain has increased significantly, and the food supply has been temporarily resolved. Why can't we fight in the open? If we give up now, what face will we have to live? It would be better to die! I firmly request a fair and open battle with the bandits," Tsuda Masahiro immediately became agitated and expressed his opinion.

"Lord Masahiro. Fortifying the castle does not mean giving up. We can use the village's terrain to organize the villagers to work overnight and build a simple small fort. We can use the terrain to block the bandits. Once they cannot break through, they will retreat," Ogasawara Kuniharu argued.

"Hmm, fortifying the castle is not a bad idea. Although it will cause unrest among the villagers who have just settled down, we can quickly recover once the bandits retreat," Togo Heijiro also supported this more conservative approach.

"No. What if the bandits return soon after retreating? Or even use the same tactics to harass us and destroy our fields? Should we become like turtles again, watching our fields yield nothing and people starve to death, or be forced to relocate?" Tsuda Masahiro seemed to have transformed, immediately raising several questions.

"This..." Togo Heijiro and Ogasawara Kuniharu exchanged glances, both seeing helplessness in each other's eyes.

"Bang, bang, bang" Masahiro tapped the tatami with the back of his tachi, and the other three people looked up at him.

"We can even kill wild boars, so are the bandits more ferocious than wild boars?" Masahiro scanned the three people, asking calmly and slightly sarcastically. Togo Heijiro and Ogasawara Kuniharu seemed to be more focused on defense than offense, so Masahiro wanted to use this opportunity to spur them on.

"That's right! We can even eliminate a herd of wild boars, so we are not afraid of these bandits," Tsuda Masahiro patted his bald head and immediately agreed.

"The bandits who will attack us soon are likely to be from Oishi Noji's gang. According to the information provided by the captives, they have no more than 30 people. Our domain now has 40 ashigaru, although their training time is short and they are far inferior to these fierce bandits, their combined combat power will be stronger than the individual bandits," Masahiro was very confident in the ashigaru he had trained, especially after the battle with the wild boars.

"Your Highness, I am willing to lead the vanguard and crush the bandits," after the morning battle, Tsuda Masahiro was full of confidence, feeling that no matter how many bandits came, they could be eliminated.

"No, Masahiro." Feeling that this bald giant was sometimes too impulsive and only knew how to charge recklessly, Masahiro felt a headache, "As the Ming saying goes, if we can use wisdom, we should not rely on brute force. We need to eliminate the enemy while preserving our own strength."

"Then... Your Highness, what should we do?" Togo Heijiro had witnessed the miracles created by this son-in-law several times. Seeing Masahiro so calm, he decided to follow the lord's orders completely. After all, if they were defeated by the bandits, he would fight to the death to buy time for his family and his son-in-law.

"Hmm, tell me about the terrain between the village and the bandits' hideout," Masahiro thought for a moment and then asked.

"Your Highness, to the east of the village, the forests facing Mount Yatake are all possible points of bandit invasion. However, due to the complex terrain and dense vegetation, the bandits will likely use two routes to invade the village. One is the small path in the forest directly opposite the training ground, where bandits often attack the village from the front. The other is the upstream of the stream that runs in front of the village. The bandits can follow the stream and the forest to attack us. The last time, the bandits attacked us at night from there, catching us off guard," Togo Heijiro said, his face full of sorrow. That night, the village suffered heavy losses.

"I have a plan," after listening to Togo Heijiro, Masahiro frowned and thought for a moment, then said.

Masahiro scanned the three people in front of him. They all looked at him, waiting for his orders. "Kuniharu, gather the villagers and, led by the old hunters, set traps in the deep forests and on the roads of the two routes. Yes, prioritize the forest by the stream. Set up a trap zone at least 1000 steps long along the stream, dig many pits and fill them with bamboo stakes; set up wooden stakes and spears on the trees. We need to make it impossible for the bandits to escape once they step into the trap zone."

"Yes, Your Highness," Ogasawara Kuniharu felt that the lord's phrase "impossible to escape" was very fitting. Just thinking about the trap-filled forest made him shudder.

"Oh, right," Masahiro suddenly remembered something and added, "Leave some safe paths and areas in these trap zones. Make sure all the archer ashigaru and old hunters know these paths and areas. They will be responsible for blocking the bandits there. Also, assign some clever villagers to closely monitor the bandits' movements."

"Yes, Your Highness," Ogasawara Kuniharu suddenly felt very confident about defeating the bandits.

"Heijiro, after helping Kuniharu set up the traps, immediately organize the villagers to gather valuable items and concentrate them in the center of the village. Once you receive my order, lead the villagers to retreat towards Tono-o Castle," although he was full of confidence in victory, he also needed to prepare for failure.

"Your Highness?" Togo Heijiro was immediately anxious. He had already decided to follow Masahiro and, in case of an emergency, stay behind to buy time for his family.

"Stop arguing, Heijiro. This is an order, and these are our family members. The ashigaru can only fight with peace of mind knowing their families are safe," Masahiro's tone suddenly became very serious.

"This... Yes, Your Highness," Togo Heijiro knew Masahiro was right and could only reluctantly agree.

"Masahiro, gather the spear ashigaru at the training ground. I want to personally inform them about the bandit attack," Masahiro continued to arrange, "Alright, that's all for now. Everyone, go and prepare. We don't have much time left."

"Yes, Your Highness," the three bowed and left.

With the sound of the gathering order, the 29 spear ashigaru and 11 archer ashigaru quickly gathered at the training ground. Masahiro slowly walked to the small platform and scanned the assembled troops, then shouted, "Everyone, the bandits have destroyed our homes and slaughtered our families many times. Now they are coming again, and over 10 bandits will attack our village."

As soon as the ashigaru heard about the bandits, there was a commotion, but they quickly quieted down and looked up at their lord. Seeing how quickly the ashigaru calmed down, Masahiro was very satisfied. The training over the past period had not been in vain.

"Then, will we be like before?" Masahiro continued, "Will we be slaughtered like before? Will we let them bully our families like before? Look behind you, ashigaru, tell me, what are you training so hard for?" Masahiro pointed to the crowd gathering behind them and shouted loudly.

The ashigaru turned to look at the crowd, where their wives and children, and their neighbors were. Seeing the fear and hope in their eyes, the ashigaru were instantly filled with righteous anger. "Kill the bandits!" someone in the crowd suddenly shouted.

"Kill the bandits! Kill the bandits!" The words spread like a flood, and soon all the ashigaru were shouting.

"Louder, is that all you can do?" Masahiro shouted at the ashigaru in front of him.

"Kill the bandits! Kill the bandits!" Not only the ashigaru on the platform but also the surrounding crowd joined in the shouting.

Looking at the passionate villagers, Masahiro suddenly felt a sense of pride. He raised his right hand to signal for quiet.

When the crowd gradually calmed down, Masahiro continued, "In fact, are 10 bandits really that scary?" Masahiro scanned the ashigaru and observed their expressions.

"Are the bandits more ferocious than wild boars? No, wild boars are clearly more ferocious. But what did we just do? We just killed a herd of 20 wild boars," Masahiro kicked a wild boar's head off the edge of the platform, which was the largest one.

The wild boar's head flew several meters and rolled a few times before stopping, causing a ripple of laughter.

"Then, are the bandits still scary?" Masahiro shouted loudly.

"Not scary! Not scary!" the ashigaru shouted in response.

"Very good. Next, we will intensify our training to make these damned bandits never return like the wild boars. Let them pay with their blood!" Masahiro was once again satisfied with the morale of the troops.

"Pay with their blood! Pay with their blood!" The ashigaru raised their weapons and shouted loudly.