The rifles were complete, and the men were adapting mightily well. They stood in front of rows of targets, and unleashed volley after volley of bullet fire. When the chaos died down, what was left of the targets was an extremely pitiful sight. Of hard wood and painted targets, only a few sickly sc.r.a.ps remained, flapping in the wind.
The men turned to each other in triumph. These were deadly weapons indeed. If that had been a man in front of them, then they would have died six times over.
"Good work, men." Gengyo said approvingly. It was working exactly as planned. The smiths stood around to watch as well, admiring their own handy work. They had been paid handsomely for this job, and so somewhere along the way, they had stopped considering it to be a ch.o.r.e, and were actually excited by the new innervations they were helping to bring about.
As expected, they were terrifying. In the hands of one man, it was a deadly weapon. In the hands of several, it was a quick march to victory. They could not stop smiling. Here, in their town of Okazaki, by their forges, such a weapon had been brought into the world.
The governor stood watching too. Gengyo made sure to bring her. She had to see the power of their military might, so that she wouldn"t make too hasty a decision, and decide to betray them as soon as they marched away.
"What do you think?" Gengyo asked, amused by the look of sternness on her face.
"Very good." She said, without the slightest bit of pleasure.
"Heh… I would have thought you"d be happier to see the success of our army. Perhaps you"re simply not in a good mood today? If that"s the case, I can send Jikouji to cheer you up a bit."
"Miura!" Jikouji barked embarra.s.sedly. "Please ignore the young commander… and his games." He said meekly, barely able to look her in the eye.
She regarded him lightly, before turning back to Gengyo. "You have a powerful weapon, but your army is not varied. Are you sure you have all that you require to defeat the lord Imagawa?"
"Certainly." Gengyo responded, before speaking to the men. "a.s.sume melee formation!"
As his words were spoken, the rifles were cast to the ground in front of them, and their weapon were drawn. The authority with which they wielded their blades created a pressure that many a master swordsman would struggle to fight against. Each one of them – through their monkly training – was shaping up to be a fine warrior indeed.
"Is there any kind of unit you do not think we can handle, governor?" He asked, curling his lips almost spitefully. He knew the power of his own force better than anyone else. He knew the value of diversity. This was a powerful selection indeed.
"Cavalry." She said pointedly. "A single cavalry charge from the side would decimate your men. There are no yari units." She exercised what little military knowledge she had, but she"d never truly been on her battlefield. Her knowledge was simply that X was effective against Y, like water was effective against fire. It was too simple.
"Indeed, cavalry would pose a threat if they were to ever get close. But do you really think there is any cavalry in the world that could charge against our barrage of bullets?"
That was why cavalry eventually became obsolete. Against bullets, their charge was useless – suicidal even. It was a waste of men. Though of course, they were still employed throughout the first world war, but their effect was minimal, especially against the fire of machine guns. It was a waste of both human and horse lives.
Cavalry, if utilised absolutely perfectly – say when they had no bullets left to fire – could be devasting and completed crush their forces. But that window of opportunity was almost impossible to hit. It was thirty seconds in total – the time it would take to reload. Gengyo believed in his own commandeering enough that the enemy general would not be able to one up him as such.
"You are confident. You had better be careful that does not come back to bite you." The old governor warned.
"You need not worry, governor. This land will soon have a different ruler."
Imagawa had no doubt been informed by now. The land was changing, and everyone could feel it. Whispers of what was to come were brought in by the evening breeze. Even the peasants in isolated villages far away could sense the unease. Something big was about to happen.
"Walk with me a while, Jikouji." Gengyo motioned toward the old man, as he began down the main street, through the crowds of people. Jikouji bowed lightly to the governor, before following his master.
"Was there something on your mind, lad?" He asked.
"Imagawa has sent a dispatchment, correct?"
"Aye lad. A thousand men."
"We will not confront them here, in these walls. We will march away from the city, and fight them on the field."
Jikouji raised an eyebrow. "But the walls would give us the undoubted advantage... We"d be able to thin their ranks without ever putting ourselves in danger."
"Indeed. But I do not want the lives of the people here to be disrupted." He replied, with a light smile. "There is also the matter of blooding the new men. It will raise their confidence by a good amount if we fight on the field, and take our victory."
"There is that, but is it worth the risk, lad? We might lose some men doing that. We can"t afford any losses."
"We will not." Gengyo responded firmly, before lightening his tone. "Is their leader anyone significant?"
"No… A nameless man. Another one of Imagawa"s dogs."
"Good. We will use his head as an example, and continue toward the capital."
It was not a matter of securing each city individually. The only target that truly mattered was the capital, where Imagawa made his home. That was the true battle to be fought. Once that obstacle was overcome, more options would be available to them, and uniting the province under their banner would not be too arduous a task.
"Tomorrow, Jikouji, I intend to wed Akiko. Can I trust in you to make the preparations?"
"Aye lad, it"ll be done."
"Good. We will set out tomorrow, after the ceremony, and look for a fight."