Chapter 8

Imada Masahiro instructed, "The people below should come up and watch the show with us. As soon as they arrive, shoot an arrow to warn us, and wait for them to start the battle." Saying this, he continued to observe the movements of the ambush troops. The ambush troops had become much quieter, and if he hadn't been observing them from a high vantage point, it would have been difficult to notice their presence.

He thought, they must have also noticed the movements of the Nakayama army. The ambush troops had become much quieter, surely they were puzzled and wanted to withdraw from the conflict. However, they were now in a difficult position, and if they were discovered by the Nakayama army, they would be in danger. So, they decided to wait for the Nakayama army to pass, lacking the courage to launch an ambush.

At this moment, Nakayama Fumitada had already led his troops to the mountain pass. Seeing that both sides of the pass were hills and the middle was a gourd-shaped valley, although Nakayama Fumitada was eager to achieve success, he was not a new recruit or a green commander. He had not been blinded by the desire for glory. He immediately ordered his men to pause and sent some of them to scout ahead.

The scout did not climb the hill when he reached the valley. He was a wild bandit recently recruited by Nakayama Fumitada and did not have the loyalty to risk his life for reconnaissance.

After a short while, the scout returned after quickly passing through the valley without encountering any enemies, reporting that no enemies were found.

Nakayama Fumitada was relieved and immediately gave the order to speed up and quickly cross the valley, heading straight for the Mei River Temple.

Relying on their superior numbers, he did not take the Imada clan seriously. Upon hearing that no enemies were found, he immediately ordered the troops to advance. Three hundred men, hearing the order, continued to march, shouting that they would be richly rewarded for defeating the Imada family.

Just as they were passing through the valley, an arrow fell from the sky and hit Nakayama Fumitada's horse.

The arrow, shot from a distance, had lost much of its force. If it hadn't been shot from a high vantage point, it would not have hit the horse's leg.

Nakayama Fumitada's horse reared up, and with no experience in riding, he tragically fell off and hit his head in a shallow ditch by the road.

Fortunately, it was not on the road, or he might have died before the battle even began.

Several clearly armored samurai rushed forward, pulling the dazed Nakayama Fumitada out of the ditch. Before they could react, another hundred or so arrows and several stones were shot down from the mountain.

For a moment, the valley was in chaos. The Nakayama peasant soldiers, who had just woken up, picked up their weapons and ran around in confusion, like a hive of bees that had been disturbed. Some even shouted that Nakayama Fumitada was dead, trying to demoralize the troops.

Imada Masahiro was also excited by the chaos, and if it weren't for Yama Masahiro holding him back, he would have rushed down to take advantage of the situation. The ambush troops, who were still unclear about who had accidentally hit Nakayama Fumitada, saw the chaos below and heard the shouts that he was dead. They were eager to take advantage of the situation and rushed down, shooting arrows and wielding weapons.

Imada Masahiro finally saw their appearance, and his lips twitched. They were all covered in dirt, wearing tattered clothes, and most of them were armed with bamboo spears. The leaders had swords and spears.

Yama Masahiro was stunned for a moment before saying, "They must be the copper miners from nearby."

Bitchu had many copper mines, and these miners were a unique group that lived by digging copper. Most of them were impoverished farmers, and a small number were captives from various households.

The ambush troops on the hillside were indeed a group of copper miners who had recently escaped from the Yoshinaka copper mine. This mine was a famous copper mine in Bitchu, controlled by the increasingly powerful Sannomiya family.

These copper miners had ambushed a group of soldiers returning from a raid on a convoy of wagons a few days earlier. They had used the stolen food to fill their stomachs and the stolen weapons to arm themselves. If Yama Masahiro had seen the loot, he would have recognized it, as the leader of that group of soldiers was called Hiraoka Hisatomo, who had just stolen the loot from Katsuragi Castle.

Hiraoka Hisatomo, overconfident, was ambushed by a group of ragtag miners, caught off guard, and fled in disgrace.

The leader of these copper miners was called Ueno Taro. Ueno Taro came from a noble family; his great-grandfather was a close attendant to the 10th Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshizumi. Ashikaga Yoshizumi was a poor shogun, and Ueno Taro's great-grandfather did not have high hopes for him. He sent his son to Bitchu, where he became the governor of Bitchu, barely managing to hold the position for 24 years despite the constant turmoil.

However, his father, who was often exhausted from riding horses, was killed by the head of the local clan, Shoji Masahiro, who took advantage of his weakness to seize Matsuyama Castle.

Ueno Taro, as a young boy, became a wandering monk, also known as a yamabushi, a group of ascetic monks who endured great hardships.

Growing up in luxury, he could not endure the hardships of the yamabushi. After training for over a decade, he slipped and fell off a cliff, leaving the mountains. After that, he became a bandit, joined the foot soldiers, and eventually became a low-ranking samurai in the Sannomiya family. For some reason, he offended a favorite of Sannomiya Masahiro and was sent to work in the Yoshinaka copper mine.

"Kill!" Ueno Taro roared, thrusting his spear into the chest of a samurai who was leading the charge. The sharp tip of the spear pierced through the samurai's leather armor like straw, which could only protect against arrows but not a direct thrust. The spear deeply penetrated the samurai's body, and the young life staggered back, twitched, and fell, about to become a cold, lifeless corpse.

"Damn it, Jiro, I'll kill you." Watching the spear twist and pull out, covered in dark red blood and flesh, Shinbei hugged his cousin, who was still spitting blood, and looked up at Ueno Taro, who was shaking his spear, his eyes turning cold.

Ueno Taro grinned. He was not a qualified yamabushi, but the years of training had honed his will and abilities. His eyes gleamed with the thrill of killing, and he bared his teeth like a fierce beast, thrusting his spear at Shinbei with all his might, knowing that even a lion must give its full effort to catch a rabbit.

Shinbei raised his sword to block, and the sword and spear collided with a loud clang. Shinbei, who had just knelt, fell to his knees again, his hands bleeding, his sword broken, and a mouthful of blood spewed out. He had no strength left to defend against the next attack.

What a powerful force. Even with all his effort, he could not withstand Ueno Taro's brute strength. Was this the end? How frustrating. Miss Ume, I'm sorry, I won't be able to eat your pickles anymore. I love you, Miss Ume, but I'll have to say it in the next life.

Shinbei closed his eyes, waiting for the final moment. After a long time, he opened his eyes again and saw seven Nakayama samurai surrounding Ueno Taro, each wielding a weapon. Nakayama Fumitada, with a pale face, watched the fleeing peasant soldiers, shouting curses in anger.

It was not the fault of the fleeing peasant soldiers. They had been unwilling to give up the good time of spring planting and were caught off guard. With their lord "glorified," many thought it was chaos and fled to avoid being killed.

With a significant portion of the Nakayama army gone, the remaining troops, under the timely awakening of Nakayama Fumitada, displayed a fighting spirit different from the copper miners. The chaotic formation quickly became more organized, and under the command of the samurai, the peasant soldiers began to surround the copper miners, who lacked coordination and stamina.

The copper miners had one advantage over the peasant soldiers: they were barefoot and fearless, fighting with all their might. This made the battle lively, and the situation became a stalemate, though the balance of victory slowly tilted towards the Nakayama army, which outnumbered the copper miners.

On the hilltop, watching the chaotic battle below, with the number of casualties reaching over thirty, Yama Masahiro's eyes gleamed with excitement. "Victory is ours. Should we charge down and finish them off, Your Highness?"

Imada Masahiro's single eye gleamed with excitement, but he remained calm in the heat of battle. He pressed his hand and said, "Interesting, they haven't decided the final victory yet. Let's wait and see."

As Imada Masahiro predicted, the situation indeed changed again.