A Time Traveller's Guide To Feudal Japan

Chapter 325 - The Music of Cannon fire

The Hojo men were faced with a particular choice, one where both solutions were not truly good ones. They were forced to choose between two poisons of varying toxicity. With their men awoken from their slumber and in fear for their lives, they were forced to consider moving their entire camp in the darkness.

But that would take a few hours at the very least. If they chose to do that, then their sleep would definitely be compromised. With those faces grinning at them from atop the castle wall, the generals were hesitant to run away so quickly with their tails between their legs.

They made a decision, and they decided it was a bluff.

"They’ll only have one ball like that," one general proposed, "it’d take weeks to get a respectable amount. If they had any sure amount of them, they’d have turned all their cannons on us already and shot us down with what they could. I say we sleep through this night, and move our camp come morning."

As they made their decision, men ran past them carrying corpses on stretchers. There were few uglier sights that than of a man that had been caught within the blast of a cannonball.

"Aye... We’ll settle on that," another said slowly, still quite evidently dissatisfied. Still, it was better than running so quickly.

Gengyo and his generals watched from atop their wall, making gleeful guesses as to how their enemy might react. But after a while, they saw the Hojo men begin to return to their tents without doing anything at all. A handful remained to clean up the mess, but the rest were well and truly on their way back to sleep.

"Would you look at that," Morohira remarked. "They took a cannonball to the back, nodded, accepted it, then went straight back to bed without doing anything at all. Are they brain-dead stupid?"

"They don’t know how to react," Gengyo explained, "they’re just trying to guess and gain an upper hand. I doubt they want to be humiliated twice, so they’re putting on a brave front and standing still and firm."

"We have to be the most irritating army ever before seen," Matsudaira giggled. "We’ll be waiting a while before the next shot, won’t we? Catch them off guard completely?"

"I would think so," Gengyo grinned. He glanced up at the sky. The moon was already making its appearance. "I suppose we can stay the night up here and keep a watch on our friends over there. With some drink, the time will fly."

"Must we?" Akiko asked. "There is already a chill in the air. I had been looking forward to a soft bed this night after so long in the mud and filth."

"I’ll keep you warm," Gengyo said with a smile.

"...I suppose we must," Akiko relented. "At least let me go and find and cloak for us. It wouldn’t do to tire out the enemy only for us to fall sick with fevers."

"I’ll help!" Rin said, looking to be thoroughly out of it. The drink still weighed heavily on her head.

Akiko looked at her doubtfully, wondering how much she could truly help. But then she supposed that the girl was likely better off being close to her where she might keep an eye on her and make sure she didn’t fall off a wall somewhere.

"Well, we’ll be off then, I suppose, see you in a little while," Akiko said quietly, her breath misting in the nighttime air.

"See you soon," Gengyo said with a smile. When the moonlight caught her face, Gengyo was reminded just how beautiful his wife truly was.

She disappeared down the ladder and Rin followed a moment later.

"We could get a fire going," Jikouji suggested. "A couple of logs to sit on as well, since we’ll be here a while. It’ll be a grand reunion party."

Takeshi looked to be most alarmed by that suggestion. "To have a fire s-so close to the gunpowder, that would be more than dangerous. We shouldn’t do it, we definitely shouldn’t."

"We’ll take care to keep it well away from the gunpowder," Gengyo assured him. "If you get some kindling, Jikouji, we’ll get hold of some seats. Another hour or two I’d say, then we’ll be ready to fire upon those sleeping beauties again."

Takeshi still didn’t look very happy, but with the approval of his Lord, Jikouji went off in search of kindling and oil, rubbing his hands together in excitement for the coming blaze.

With a fire to warm their faces, the Hojo camp would be unable to forget the looming menace atop that wall. Even between cannon shots, they would not be able to sleep, for fear that it would be their tent that fell next. It was a menace that Gengyo delighted in inflicting. A menace that only an experienced commander would be able to employ, a commander so comfortable with battle that the nerves and fear no longer affected him.

Gengyo employed the help of Sasaki and Matsudaira in looking for the seats they would sit on. Timber from the reconstruction of the fortress could be found on almost every corner. They’d soon collected enough of it for firewood and for sitting. A cosy little encirclement began around a budding flame, as old friends shared in each others company.

Morohira made sure to find another crate of sake, and with that in their veins, it warmed them almost as much as the fire. Akiko and Rin were soon back too, carrying an armful of cloaks each. Their eyes lit up when they saw the fire, looking forward to its comforts.

Akiko dr.a.p.ed a cloak over her husband’s shoulders before she sat herself upon his lap and looked up into his eyes. Her sweet scent ran into Gengyo’s nostrils and he ran his fingers through her soft and silky hair.

It was a most pleasant evening of partying for them, sponsored by the music of cannon fire.