Chapter 46: Divine Punishment from the Sky

My Lord, what time do you think it is!

With his light armor loosely and haphazardly hanging on his body, his hair disheveled, and his hand gripping an unsheathed blade, Takeda Nobushige rushed frantically to the side of Takeda Shingen, who was still admiring the view all by himself, escorted by a few loyal retainers in a state of utter disarray.

Looking at his elder brother, who was still full of zest and appreciating the so-called beautiful scenery, a surge of fiery anger boiled within his gut.

Just look at the chaotic state the entire encampment was in right now. Instead of hastily organizing the troops for defense, shouldn't they at least try to avoid a disastrous defeat, if not turn the tables for a victory?

"Oh, it's you, Nobushige."

Hearing his younger brother's anxious voice, one had to admit that Takeda Shingen, known as the Tiger of Kai, possessed extraordinary composure.

One must consider just how tricky the current situation was.

In the sky, there were fiery meteors coming from the Hojo army's surprise attack force, while inside their own encampment, a terrifying panic—a camp riot—was unfolding.

Under such circumstances, if it were any commander with slightly less composure, would they not already be crying and wanting to commit seppuku?

"Brother, it's a camp riot!"

Seeing that Takeda Shingen still maintained his calm expression, Nobushige was truly on the verge of tears.

The so-called camp riot, also known as the sudden madness of troops, was a special and rare collective phenomenon in ancient armies.

It referred to a state that erupted when soldiers, under extreme nervous tension, were suddenly stimulated by an external force.

Once it occurred, the soldiers would behave like frantic bulls, unable to distinguish between friend and foe, launching indiscriminate attacks on everyone around them.

At such times, the methods used by various commanders to pacify soldiers caught in a camp riot varied with no fixed standard.

Some succeeded, but quite a few failed.

Looking back in history, there were distant examples like the Battle of Kunyang during Wang Mang's Xin dynasty in the East, and more recent ones like a 16th division of tens of thousands being reduced to a mere 400 men overnight.

And the Takeda allied forces in Musashino were currently in just such a state.

First, frightened out of their wits by heavenly fire that defied conventional understanding, the ignorant soldiers believed it to be divine punishment sent from the heavens.

Then, further agitated by the chaotic comrades around them, the strings of reason in their minds snapped completely.

Ah, truly it was a matter of timing and destiny...

"Calm down, Nobushige."

Perfecting the idiom about the emperor not being anxious while the eunuchs are frantic, Shingen remained completely composed despite the imminent crisis, calmly donning his armor with the help of his attendants.

With Nobushige, whose anxious expression refused to fade, the two headed toward the high observation platform in the center of the camp.

As they walked, Shingen continued to soothe his younger brother's mind.

"I have heard that in the East, during the late Western Han dynasty, Liu Xiu revived the Han dynasty."

"In a crucial battle, falling meteors from the sky helped him miraculously defeat Wang Mang's hundreds of thousands of troops."

"That time was just like this time. I never expected that one day I would enjoy the same treatment as such a great figure as Wang Mang."

"My Lord!"

Driven to tears of frustration by his elder brother's inappropriate remarks, Nobushige desperately wanted to reach out, grab his brother by the shoulders, and scream.

Could this possibly be something worth rejoicing over?

Liu Xiu was regarded by the world as the Son of Heaven because of this battle; did you also want Hojo Akitoki to be regarded as the ruler of the realm because of this battle?

"Thinking about it carefully now, Liu Xiu back then and Hojo Akitoki today—"

"What they used was perhaps nothing more than the Divine Fire Flying Crows or the Water-Rising Fire Dragons from the East."

Ignoring Nobushige, Takeda Shingen, having ascended the command platform, continued his explanation.

Then, sweeping his fierce gaze across the camp where soldiers were engaged in brutal, indiscriminate mutual slaughter, he suddenly drew a deep breath, expanding his lung capacity.

"I am the Fierce Tiger of Kai—Takeda Shingen! Warriors of my Takeda allied forces, quiet down at once!"

"Otherwise, the fangs of the tiger will let you know the sharpness of its blade!"

Up to this point, he still had the confidence to use his own prestige to quell the chaos within the encampment.

And as long as the chaos was quelled, an army numbering a claimed one hundred thousand would surely ensure the Hojo army's surprise attack force would never return alive.

After all, in his understanding, those Divine Fire Flying Crows or Water-Rising Fire Dragons from the East—

Although they looked extremely spectacular on the surface, their lethality was actually quite limited!

Well-read in military strategy and possessing broad knowledge, Takeda Shingen was certain of this.

Indeed, the conclusion he drew based on known information was theoretically correct.

The Divine Fire Flying Crows and Water-Rising Fire Dragons that had appeared in Eastern history indeed had rather touching lethality.

So much so that their inventors did not particularly enjoy using them once weapons like cannons, which were much more convenient and possessed far greater lethality, became available.

However, could the fire meteors created by Hojo Akitoki be compared to those flashy goods?

The Divine Fire Flying Crows and Water-Rising Fire Dragons lacked strong lethality because the purity of the gunpowder at the time was insufficient, constrained by technological limitations.

Let us not forget that Hojo Akitoki was a figure who had received a complete higher education in the East.

Everyone knows about Katyushas, right?

To put it bluntly and without politeness, they were oversized parallel rocket launchers, and capable individuals on the Eastern internet could even handcraft them.

Of course, perhaps they were not quite that far advanced, and their lethality was minor in comparison.

Yet Hojo Akitoki's creation today followed the same logic.

He did not demand massive firepower and ultra-long range, but merely required them to shoot from the surprise attack site directly into the encampment of the Takeda allied forces.

This was not difficult for Hojo Akitoki, and in order to compensate for lethality—

He kindly added white phosphorus and sugar to the interior of the oversized rocket launchers manufactured using classical techniques.

He even added a tiny bit of lamp oil, striving to replicate the magnificent spectacle of the burning of Yiling to the maximum extent!

Thus, when Takeda Shingen relied on his prestige to briefly bring a small portion of the panicked soldiers back to their senses—

And then organized these soldiers to awaken the remaining delirious troops while attempting to have them put out the fires along the way—

Tragedy struck.

The soldiers who had finally stabilized their emotions and were persuading the other crazed soldiers were fine.

But the soldiers who went to extinguish the fire—their emotions instantly collapsed again!

"It is heavenly fire! It is inextinguishable heavenly fire!"

It was not just one soldier shouting this; many, many soldiers were crying out the exact same words.

They were in despair, weeping heartrendingly.

They had originally thought water could extinguish the fire, and when water was lacking, they used dirt to cover it or thick garments to beat at it.

Surely there was always a way to put out flames.

But what happened?

Unlucky soldiers happened to come into contact with the flames containing white phosphorus, and these flames not only refused to be extinguished—

They even splattered onto their bodies amidst the soldiers' frantic movements.

Seeing the fire burning on their bodies, a normal person's reaction was naturally to put it out.

Yet the nightmare descended!

Whether rolling on the ground or aided by those around them—

The fire refused to extinguish; instead, it burned ever more fiercely.

It burned straight along the flesh and blood into the bones.

Meanwhile, flames ignited wherever the soldiers rolled, and any soldiers assisting their comrades who happened to be splashed with the flames would consequently become new torches.

Collapse erupted uncontrollably from that moment on.

Few soldiers could remain calm after witnessing such eerie flames with their own eyes.

Coupled with the toxic gases produced by the burning white phosphorus, soldiers who did not understand this property watched as their comrades suddenly collapsed right beside the flames!

"Sorcery! The Hojo army possesses sorcery!"

The Takeda allied forces, which had only just begun to calm down, plunged back into chaos once more.

And this time, the chaos was even more violent than before.

Beside them were charred corpses burning with ghost-like wails, and beside them was the flashing steel of cut and slash.

Takeda Shingen's initial plan was thoroughly shattered at this point.

Moreover, what caused his brow to furrow even deeper was not just this. Staring at the offensive of fire meteors in the sky that had finally ceased—

The battle-hardened Takeda Shingen knew that the Hojo army's next round of attacks was bound to begin shortly.

No sooner had this thought arisen than, sure enough, a vibration came from the pitch-black earth outside the encampment.

Rumbling sounds accompanied heavy hooves striking the soil.

They also struck the very heartstrings of Takeda Shingen standing upon the central command platform.

"Hojo Akitoki! Hojo Akitoki!"

Maintaining his expression with supreme self-control, Shingen ground his teeth and issued rapid orders.

"Gather the samurai of the Takeda clan's main camp as much as possible, and assemble them all here with me."

"Prepare to break through the encirclement. The direction shall be toward the Dragon of Echigo."

"As for those here... they are Ujimasa's subordinates anyway."