The Great Hall of the Land of Fire.
Hideyoshi Oda sat high above. He supported his forehead, his expression cold and gloomy. He exuded an air of being really pissed off.
Within a single day, his heroic deeds had spread throughout the Metropolis.
God knows how many people were gossiping about his actions behind his back.
As for Nobuaki Oda and the ten thousand soldiers of the Black Armor Army, Hideyoshi didn't even pay them any heed.
The five armies loyal to him numbered over one hundred thousand in total. Ten thousand was just a drop in the ocean.
He couldn't believe it. With the trump card in his hand, how could he be easily beaten by his fourth brother?
The civil and military officials in the great hall remained silent, especially quiet under the oppressive atmosphere.
Many of them had seen the photos, but at this point, Hideyoshi Oda had become the victor. No matter how they tried to smear him, it was useless.
The only effect would be to irritate Hideyoshi Oda.
"My Lord Daimyo."
Takeuchi Yuta stepped forward and said respectfully,
"The people spreading rumors in the Metropolis have been dealt with. No one dares to talk about this matter anymore. Please, My Lord, set your mind at ease.
The most urgent matter now is to deal with Nobuaki Oda, who is plotting a rebellion. He's thousands of miles away in Ibaraki, yet he was able to react so quickly. It's as if they got the news as soon as your father passed away.
This just proves that the pills he gave your father were problematic, and he framed with fabricated photos to deceive the people of the Land of Fire. He deserves a thousand deaths!"
"Lord Takeuchi makes a lot of sense."
Hideyoshi Oda looked up, a smile appearing on his face. If he didn't know the truth, he would have believed Takeuchi's words himself.
"Where is my rebellious brother now?"
"He and the Black Armor Army left Ibaraki and landed at Sheng'an Port at an extremely fast speed."
Takeuchi Yuta picked up a secret report and said, "General Yamazaki's army has been ordered to go there."
"General Yamazaki?"
Hideyoshi Oda was slightly startled, then praised, "General Yamazaki has never lost a battle. He will surely bring me the head of my fourth brother."
He looked at Takeuchi Yuta, who remained calm, and couldn't help but sigh. Sure enough, the older, the craftier.
He had only told him yesterday that General Yamazaki might have ulterior motives, and today he was sent to the front line.
General Yamazaki has fifteen thousand soldiers. If he fails, the worry will be naturally solved.
Even if he wins, it will surely be a Pyrrhic victory.
Either way, only he will stand undefeated.
...
Ten thousand soldiers formed several neat square formations. The black exoskeleton power suits glowed with a metallic sheen in the sun.
From afar, Nobuaki Oda saw them as if they were a thick black cloud, with an imposing aura soaring into the sky.
He couldn't help but feel a surge of pride in his heart.
Minato Namikaze stood beside him, wearing an exoskeleton power suit, and his face couldn't be seen clearly.
With his excellent eyesight, he saw the dense army on the opposite side.
"It seems they got the news in advance."
Thanks to the exoskeleton power suits, they could move very fast.
But even so, their whereabouts were still known.
It seems that the other armies of the Land of Fire are not as useless as they seem.
"My elder brother may not be very talented, but there are still capable people among the civil and military officials."
Nobuaki Oda glanced at the flag on the city wall and said, "It's General Yamazaki. He has fifteen thousand troops under his command.
"Are they going to charge head - on?"
Minato Namikaze shook his head expressionlessly.
Compared to the Thirty - Six Stratagems (a collection of ancient Chinese military strategies) that Teacher Haruki had told him about, these so - called armies only knew how to hack and slash and didn't know how to adapt.
In war, numbers matter.
It was a pity that he was going to tell the nobles of the Land of Fire today that the times had changed, and having more numbers didn't mean much.
"General Yamazaki is best at frontal combat. It's no surprise that he made this decision."
Nobuaki Oda had at least some knowledge of the various generals.
"It's starting."
Minato Namikaze raised his eyebrows. He saw the large army in front of him slowly moving forward.
A moment later, the iron cavalry at the front of the army spurred their reins and suddenly accelerated. In a mighty and surging manner, like a tide, they rushed towards the Black Armor Army.
The thunderous sound of hooves caused the air to vibrate.
The echoing sound filled hundreds of miles around.
"Heavy Kiji Cavalry."
Nobuaki Oda looked a bit nervous. He took a deep breath and explained, "The Heavy Kiji Cavalry created by the Yamazaki Army is composed of the best warhorses and the most elite soldiers, equipped with full - body iron armor and long - handled kiji swords. They are real killing machines on the battlefield."
Minato Namikaze nodded.
Such iron cavalry could already cause some damage to the ninjas.
Not to mention that he saw that among this heavy cavalry, there were quite a few samurai who could use Chakra.
"Minato, do you have a plan?"
Nobuaki Oda only knew about the auxiliary function of the exoskeleton power suit and was not clear about all of its capabilities.
Facing the Heavy Kiji Cavalry that resembled an iron forest, he felt a bit unconfident for a moment.
"Prince, don't worry."
Minato Namikaze raised his right hand.
As if it were a command, the three thousand Black Armor Army soldiers in the front dispersed in formation to avoid accidental injuries. Immediately, they all raised their right arms.
There was a sound of mechanical gears turning.
The iron shell on the right arm suddenly split open, revealing a Gattling gun with four intertwined barrels.
"Prince, you have only one duty. You must ensure that the process of this battle doesn't leak out."
"Okay."
Nobuaki Oda rode his horse away.
In addition to Minato Namikaze's ten - thousand - strong Black Armor Army, he had also spent money to recruit a three - thousand - strong mercenary army.
Its only purpose was to block the news.
But before he had ridden for a few seconds, there was a sudden deafening explosion.
Nobuaki Oda comforted his warhorse and looked back.
Hey, this chapter ain't over yet!
Almost at the same time, three thousand machine guns spun madly and fired together.
Even in the daytime, Nobuaki Oda saw a blue flame several meters long.
Suddenly, it reached the sky above the Heavy Kiji Cavalry, and a continuous and deafening roar echoed.
Bullets crafted with Explosive Tags burned and exploded one after another.
The soldiers closest to the explosion immediately felt a buzzing in their heads, and blood oozed from their ears.
But the worst - hit were the Heavy Kiji Cavalry at the center of the explosion.
Hailed as one of the most powerful cavalry forces in the Land of Fire, they had already been wiped out.
There was a huge crater hundreds of meters wide, with no survivors.
The area around was full of bloody wreckage. Not a single complete body could be found among the two thousand soldiers.
The flames were still burning.
But the whole world fell completely silent.
The Black Armor Army members using the Gattling guns looked stunned and incredulous.
They seemed unable to believe that the hellish scene before them was caused by themselves.
Since they joined the army, they had thought about the possibility of dying on the battlefield one day, but such a thing was truly beyond their wildest dreams.
On the city wall, General Yamazaki's face turned deathly pale after hearing the explosion.
If he hadn't been holding onto the city wall, he would have collapsed to the ground the next moment.
His proud Heavy Kiji Cavalry had been wiped out in just a few seconds.
And he still didn't understand what that weapon that made a rattling sound and spat out blue flames was.
But no matter what it was, he knew that his cause was lost.
A few days later.
Hideyoshi Oda had never been so angry and afraid.
His fourth brother was approaching the Metropolis at a speed beyond his imagination.
"Man - eating demons are advancing towards Jin Sui City! General Yamazaki has been captured."
"The usurper has invaded Dewa! General Mochizuki has died in battle."
"Nobuaki Oda has seized Iwaki Castle! General Hirayama has surrendered."
Hideyoshi Oda took a deep breath, trying hard to control his emotions.
But the frustration in his words was still palpable.
"Enough! Shut up! Stop reading!"
The great hall fell silent.
All the civil and military officials didn't dare to say a word.
Many of them were secretly considering their own escape routes.
They were nobles. They didn't really care who became the Daimyo as long as their own interests were not affected.
But they couldn't show it for now.
"My lord Daimyo,"
Ogoshi Takayuki stepped forward, looking confident, and said, "There are nearly fifty thousand troops of General Ogawa and me guarding the Metropolis. There's no need to worry."
Hearing this, Hideyoshi Oda's fear lessened a bit.
Mainly because his fourth brother was advancing too fast, and he still hadn't received any details about the battles.
There must be something fishy going on.
What on earth allowed Nobuaki Oda to advance so smoothly?
"Do any of you know what the new equipment of the Black Armor Army is?"
After much thought, Hideyoshi Oda could only think of this possibility.
But no one in the great hall could answer.
Firstly, except for the Daimyo, no one else had ever seen the Heavenly Fire before.
Secondly, during the training at Minato, only a few soldiers had mastered the new equipment, and the confidentiality measures were excellent.
Even if someone spied on them, they could only see their strange training methods.
Seeing that his civil and military officials were silent, Hideyoshi Oda felt extremely annoyed.
If he didn't still need them to defend the Metropolis, he would have scolded these useless people severely.
In the whole seven years, not a single person had ever paid attention to the new equipment of the Black Armor Army?
The arrogance of the nobles was evident.
On the night when the court session adjourned, Ogoshi Takayuki learned that the enemy was at the city gates.
He and Taro Ogawa stood high on the city wall, with all the troops hidden inside the Metropolis.
As the most magnificent and prosperous city in the Land of Fire, its city wall was also the tallest and thickest.
They learned from previous battles and prepared to defend the city.
"I've never really understood."
Taro Ogawa stared at the Black Armor Army in the distance. "Although their armor looks intimidating, everyone here is a well-trained soldier. Why were they able to take out the other three armies so quickly?"
"I don't understand either."
Ogoshi Takayuki frowned and asked, "Actually, what I suspect is not their new equipment, but the ninjas."
"Ninjas?"
"Yeah. You know how awesome ninjas can be. Minato Namikaze is a ninja from Konoha. He could easily arrange a group of ninjas as a surprise force and set up booby traps."
The more Ogoshi Takayuki talked, the more reasonable it seemed to him.
He had seen that the traps set by ninjas were nothing short of a disaster for ordinary armies.
And all three armies in front had chosen to charge head-on.
It was quite normal to fall into traps during a charge.
In such a battlefield situation, it would almost surely lead to a rout.
"No wonder Nobuaki Oda wanted to keep it a secret. If we knew about this surprise force, we'd surely be on guard."
Taro Ogawa nodded. He agreed with Ogoshi Takayuki's explanation.
"But now that we're relying on the city wall, their surprise force won't have a chance to set up traps."
Ogoshi Takayuki sneered. "This is a golden opportunity for us. Once we wipe out Nobuaki Oda, you and I will rise through the ranks and become the two most powerful generals in the Land of Fire."
"You're so right, General Ogoshi!"
Taro Ogawa's blood was boiling with excitement.
The other three armies had become history.
His army and Ogoshi Takayuki's were the only ones left.
Hideyoshi Oda would have to rely on them in the future.
Even if new armies were built, how could they compare to theirs in the short term?
Dreaming of the future, Taro Ogawa waited for the Black Armor Army to get closer, then raised his hand and shouted, "Archers, prepare!"
He could defend the metropolis thanks to his Ogawa horse-archers, a perfect combination of cavalry and archers.
In a normal war, they would serve as the vanguard, galloping back and forth on the plains, raining a torrential rain of arrows on the enemy.
Taro Ogawa trained them in groups of a hundred, and with special training, they could operate seamlessly.
But now, because they were defending the city, they lost their mobility. However, as simple archers, they were still far more elite than ordinary ones.
Countless arrows flew from the city wall, drawing a beautiful arc in the sky, and then fell in unison.
"Wait, something's off."
Ogoshi Takayuki suddenly narrowed his eyes.
As one of the five great generals, his strength was no weaker than that of a Jonin.
In his line of sight, all the arrows passed through the Black Armor Army and plunged into the ground.
It was as if the Black Armor Army didn't even exist.
"It's a Genjutsu."
Far from being alarmed, Ogoshi Takayuki was overjoyed. This confirmed his earlier suspicion that there was indeed a ninja surprise force.
The previous three generals must have been caught off guard and walked into a trap.
Taro Ogawa immediately stopped the archery.
Their skills were not bad. Although they couldn't compare to Mifune of the Land of Iron, they had a good understanding of chakra application.
He drew his long sword. Purple lightning crackled around it at maximum speed, and a flurry of sword glints filled the air in front of him.
The Genjutsu instantly shattered.
Ogoshi Takayuki was about to praise the other person's excellent swordsmanship but suddenly froze in place.
In front of them, a huge fortress was hovering in the sky.
"What the hell is this?!"
Taro Ogawa never expected that such a dreamlike thing would appear after the [Genjutsu] was dispelled.
A moving castle?
How did it get up there?
Just as his mind was racing, the air fortress lit up with countless lights.
Like fireworks, they rose from the air fortress, followed a specific trajectory, and landed inside the Metropolis at an extremely fast speed.
As they got closer, Ogoshi Takayuki and Taro Ogawa could clearly see that they were soldiers of the Black Armor Army wearing exoskeleton power suits.
It's over! Their eyes popped wide open.
One after another, meteors ignited and fell.
What is this?
They had imagined all kinds of attack methods.
But they never expected the scene in front of them.
Divine Soldiers Descend from the Heavens!
In the palace, Hideyoshi Oda was waiting for news.
Suddenly, a large hole broke through the ceiling above his head.
A soldier of the Black Armor Army appeared in front of him.
He didn't react for a moment.
"Big bro, long time no see."
A familiar voice.
"Nobuaki Oda! How did you get here?!"
Hideyoshi Oda suddenly shot to his feet, his face panicked as he shrieked, "Guards! Protect me! Protect me!"
"It's useless. No one will come to save you even if you scream your lungs out."
Nobuaki Oda shook his head and said, "Look at how beautiful the sky outside is, won't you?"
"..."
Hideyoshi Oda slumped in his seat.
In the large hole in the ceiling, countless sparks were burning.
Minato Namikaze appeared in front of the two of them. He glanced at Hideyoshi Oda and then at Nobuaki Oda, smiling and saying, "Welcome, prince, to your own Metropolis."