CHAPTER 338: CHAPTER 236 UNDERESTIMATING THE HEROES IN THE WORLD!_3

Moreover, the construction speed was extremely fast. All the components were prefabricated with holes for cantilevers, crossbeams, and diagonal beams. They only needed to insert and nail them for reinforcement, plus iron cables that were pre-strung and tightened in advance. Agile soldiers hooked themselves onto the cables with ropes and could start working on sections ahead of time. They had only watched in a daze for a short while, yet one-third of the bridge was already taking shape.

Nakamura Yajiro, Maeno Nagakane, and Hosokawa Shigekatsu finally understood the difference between a regular army and a ragtag force. It wasn’t just the distinction in armor and weaponry, but even more in training. There was no way these leather-armored engineers were building this kind of bridge for the first time—absolutely impossible. They must have constructed and dismantled it countless times, perhaps even hundreds of times. Chances are, every step had been improved repeatedly—otherwise, such astonishing speed would have been impossible.

Of course, the expenditure must be significant too. Just a look at the various prefabricated timbers and professional tools prepared in advance, and if someone said that Harano spent tens of thousands of coins on these people, they would believe it.

Harano was also very satisfied with the speed of the Wanjin engineers, even feeling a little surprised himself.

Although this training was his requirement, he simply had too many matters to attend to and often had to scheme or launch expeditions. It was impossible for him to keep a close watch on the training of a single unit, and he truly didn’t expect the Wanjin engineers to evolve to this level on their own. It was likely they had been internally competing quite a lot.

Perhaps it was because of the downsizing during the famine? Those unwilling to compete, those who didn’t perform well, had all been dismissed and sent off to become sheriffs or militia instructors?

The benefits of competitive job selection are clear. In the future he should continue occasional downsizing, clearing out those unwilling to improve; the army must not be allowed to develop a mindset of muddling through.

Of course, this was also because the Wanjin Army’s benefits and pay were good. Many people did not want to lose such a respected and high-paying job, otherwise, there wouldn’t be so much competition.

"Not bad. Remember to reward the engineer officers later. This year’s model soldiers among the engineers should be selected in double the numbers, and personal rewards must be especially generous," Harano ordered. Subordinates who were this dedicated to their work certainly deserved recognition and tangible benefits, to encourage them to continue their self-driven improvement and become ever more outstanding.

Engineers are indeed very important, especially in medieval Japan, particularly so.

In this era, there were powerful clans everywhere. Any group of people with some strength wanted to seize villages and become rulers. Daimyos like Oda Nobunaga, Imagawa Yoshimoto, and many others greatly resented this and all wanted to seize all local rule into their own hands. But they were never fully successful, mainly due to terrain constraints.

Japan is a mountainous and river-filled island country. A mountain every three li, a river every ten li, is entirely normal. With this kind of naturally segmented terrain, conquest became extremely difficult. Especially given the transportation conditions of this era, you would take a few steps only to run into a river with no ford, or a stretch of wetlands and muddy ground. Sometimes, there was really nothing you could do.

Armies are not like individuals; crossing rivers is not so easy for an army. Sometimes a mere small river could delay a force by three to five days, which was entirely normal. This also made it extremely easy for supplies to be cut off on the march, and an army could collapse just from constant walking.

The solution used by Japanese armies in the Warring States Era was simply to push through—wherever they went, they seized what they could. Rice, grain, and chickens from villages all had to be taken, otherwise there wouldn’t be enough supplies. But more importantly, with so many "natural barriers" behind you, if you lost the battle, it would be difficult to retreat and minimize losses.

There was a notorious precedent for this: the "Tiger of Owari," Oda Nobuhide, led about ten thousand troops to attack Inaba Castle, but was routed by Saito Dosan and chased all the way to the riverbank. Finding no bridge, seven or eight thousand men rushed for a scant few dozen boats, and over a thousand drowned then and there—even more than had died in actual combat!

This is why Harano refused to take boats to cross the river; he had no intention of repeating Oda Nobuhide’s old mistake.

There is no such thing as a certain victory in this world. Before victory, you must first consider defeat. No matter how strong the Wanjin Army is, he must insist on keeping the line of retreat open, ensuring that even if the campaign fails, there is always a way out. That’s why he would never lead his troops across the river until a bridge had been built.

Fighting with your back to the river, desperate counterattacks, winning a decisive victory—these things are better left to novels for entertainment. If any of his officers tried such a thing, he’d be the first to send them to a court-martial, and if the execution took more than five minutes, it would be his fault.

Someone like that absolutely deserves to be executed.

Perhaps, he himself is incapable of becoming a great general; he prefers the maxim, "The best at war leave no blazing achievements," believing that this is the true way of warfare.

Steady and measured, no need to take unnecessary risks. Find ways to weaken the enemy, accumulate daily training for one’s own side, only fight battles you are certain of, and even if setbacks occur, never suffer a crippling blow.

Having led the Wanjin Army for so many years, he now had his own philosophy of command. It was perhaps a legacy from the desperate struggles in the early days of hardship. Under this philosophy, the Wanjin Army had never disappointed him and had become ever more elite.

After more than an hour, the iron-cabled cantilever plank bridge spanning the Kisogawa River was completed. The sharp blasts of bamboo whistles rang out, and two thousand Wanjin soldiers marched over the water in formation, morale high and fearless.

Construction was still ongoing. According to the plan, the Wanjin engineers needed to build two more cantilever bridges and one simple fortified position to ensure the area was secured and that the Wanjin Army could quickly retreat to the south bank.

Nakamura Yajiro, Maeno Nagakane, and the others were completely stunned, and even Hosokawa Shigekatsu looked a little unsettled.

From a whiff, he could sense everything. Treating the Wanjin Army as a hypothetical enemy, just seeing how professionally they crossed the river, he felt they would be extremely tough to deal with. Without two or three times their numbers, unable to force them into a predicament, he did not even dare to contemplate fighting them head-on.

He had underestimated the heroes of this world. Who could have imagined Owari was hiding such a remarkable figure!