The first of the fire bomb-throwers made it into range and threw his bomb inside, only exposing his head for a single moment. He managed to send the bomb where he wanted, but for the price of his brain. Two bullets shattered his skull before he had the chance to draw back, and he fell to the floor a moment later.
And then his bomb went off, sending men flying, killing multiple soldiers instantly, and severely disorientating the rest.
"Retreat! We'll go deeper into the castle!" Gengyo ordered. He had initially planned to have his men posted nearer to the hole in the wall so that they could pick off the enemy as they came through, inflicting damage that would not be easily rectified. But the bomb-throwers more than countered that.
The men marched their way backwards, giving more ground to the Hojo men, but rendering their bomb-throwers ineffective.
They managed to throw two more bombs before the Miura army was placed out of range, and those fell short, spewing up clouds of dirt rather than clouds of blood.
With Jikouji keeping the bowmen in check, the Miura army retook the centre of the castle, so they once more had a direct line towards the hole in the wall, albeit a good distance further back.
That was not to say that the arrow fire had stopped completely – a few volleys still managed their way over the wall, but they had been disturbed enough that the arrows were few and the damage they caused was minimal.
"He's good," a young Hojo general commented. "From the reports we have on him, I did not think he would fair well with small manoeuvres and positional play, but he has yet to make a major mistake."
"Yeah, very cool, can you shower him in your shallow praise after the battle? The bastard is pushing us back!" Came the angry response.
"Those rifles of his are beyond problematic… I have not seen them used so effectively. With them covering the path right up to our opening, we will never make any respectable amount of progress… I hate to say this, but even with our numbers, it is we that are at a disadvantage."
"…What is it that you're saying?"
"We need another opening. If we can make them fight on two fronts, we can eventually overwhelm them. The rear wall, we'll put a hole in that as well."
"I don't know if you've been taking notice, but they don't exactly seem like they'd be ready to let us do that."
"Of course not, but the more targets we force them to deal with, the more we make proper use of our numbers. Load a cart up with gunpowder, and we'll threaten to march it right up to the walls and detonate it under their noses."
"That won't work. They'll blow it up with their rifles before we can even begin to wheel it forward."
"Then cover the barrels. Wood and stone. Prevent them from detonating it prematurely."
They didn't believe in him, but they had sworn to the Daimyo that they would follow his orders and listen to his plans. Without truly wanting to, the order was given, and a collection of soldiers went back to their supply train to prepare the cart.
The young general watched them go with approval. His soldiers were maintaining the pressure at the front. The bowmen continued to fire then move, demanding that a portion of riflemen stayed with them. The infantry were right by the wall, alert and waiting for the opportunity for them to begin forward.
The gunpowder cart was prepared quickly. Six barrels of potent powder were hauled onto it and then scraps were thrown on top. First a wet leather covering to discourage any flame and then as much debris as they could find.
"Be thorough about it, else it'll be your heads that go flying! After you're done, you'll be pushing it right up to the wall, so you had best hope that you've made it strong enough to withstand their attacks," their commander told them. When they realized that, they prepared it a little more tentatively, ensuring that there were no gaps where a stray bullet could slip through.
Solid rocks formed their shields and then another wet leather covering went on top, truly ensuring that a fire could never start. The problem after that was trying to move it.
Twenty men worked together behind in, having to use all their strength just to break its inertia. With all the stones and debris, it was more than heavy. It sunk deep into the earth and its wooden wheels groaned under the weight and the men groaned even louder as they desperately tried to move it.
It slipped forward ever so slightly, barely a finger forward, but that was significant. The men did not miss that opportunity. They hit it even harder, supplying it with an amount of momentum, and then it truly began to move.
It was a slow and defenceless tank. The men could not even carry their spears with them, all they had was the short daggers that hung at their h.i.p.s. A single shot from the cannons would shatter it to pieces and so they rolled it towards the front wall, where there was already a hole and where the cannons were near inoperable as a result of the earlier attack. From there, they planned to stay close to stone walls and wheel it to a second point of attack.
It looked more than ineffective as it slowly crossed the field. Apart from that one young Hojo general, there were very few that thought such a plan would work. Nevertheless, those that had been tasked with pushing the cart did so without a shred of reservation, for their very lives depended on the success of the attack.
"Okay," the Hojo general said with approval, "now prepare another. As I said, the more targets they have to deal with, the more we can use our numerical advantage. See to it."