Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 145 The Big Tail Battle ([-])

On April 12, the 1584th year of Tensho (4), as Hashiba Hideyoshi and the Oda-Tokugawa allied forces competed in the Nobi Plains, the situation of the whole Nobi and even the world seemed to be determined by this war. .

Let's talk about Hashiba Hideyoshi's side, riding on the horse and singing, already thinking about the final ownership of this battle, the entire 3-person brigade headed east leisurely.

The army moved slowly. Firstly, he was in an enemy's territory after all. Second, Hideyoshi did have a slight desire to consume Ikeda Hengxing's strength. Anyway, as long as he arrived, the victory would definitely belong to him.

But it was getting late at this moment, even the sun in spring was beginning to set down, the red sun only lit up a piece of afterglow from the west side, turning the whole sky blood red.

Suddenly the whole team stopped, there seemed to be some noise ahead, and the soldiers were whispering and exchanging information.

"What's going on, why stop the march, Settsu Mori is still waiting for us to get rescues?" Hashiba Hideyoshi said a little dissatisfied, although he ordered a steady march, he didn't say that the team should stop.

"My lord, there is a defeated army in front, it seems to be the Meinong army." An abrupt voice sounded in the afterglow of the setting sun, because it was late, it was unclear who said it.

When Hideyoshi heard that there was a Mino rout in front of him, he was shocked and said excitedly, "Where is it, bring it here quickly."

Not long after, a warrior whose leather armor was split open, with a wound on his back, covered in blood, was supported by several retainers and warriors and walked over.

"Who are you, why are you like this?" Hideyoshi looked at their distressed appearance and asked
"My lord, we are samurai from the Inaba clan of Ogaki Castle in Mino. This is Lord Noritsu Inaba, the young master of the Inaba clan. We have just retreated from the small mountain pass."

Inaba Noritsu is the eldest grandson of Inaba Kazutsu, and the eldest son of Inaba Sadatsu. Now that Inaba Kazutsu has ceded the position of the family governor to Inaba Sadomichi, it is reasonable to call Inaba Noritsu as the young master.

"Where is Iyomori-sama now, why did the Inaba family's army retreat?"

Iyomori is the official name of Inaba Kazutetsu. In the battle of Nobi, the 70-year-old Inaba Kazutetsu came out of the mountain again at Hideyoshi's insistence and served as the general of the 3500-strong Inaba family. Dinghaishenzhen of Mino Legion.

"The main hall should still be at the back. The young master was wounded by a sword. My lord ordered us to bring the young master back." The warrior said.

Not long after, the commotion in the front became even worse. Hideyoshi didn't have time to carefully question the samurai's battle situation in front of him, so he asked left and right, "What happened in front? Why is it so noisy?"

After a while, the samurai who had figured out the situation came back and told Hideyoshi, "It's Hachisuka-sama who's back, and he's withdrawing troops here with part of Mino's army."

"Withdraw troops? Why would you withdraw troops?" Hideyoshi couldn't believe the information brought from the front.

Ikeda Hengxing's team has more than 2 people, while the Zhide coalition army has only more than 3 people. Even if it is 6000 pigs, you have to kill for a long time. How long has it been? Why did you withdraw the army?

However, there is not much time left for Hideyoshi to think. As far as the situation on the front line is concerned, Hashiba's army is indeed defeated, and it is getting late now, but if we don't find a safe place to camp and rest, the entire army may be due to the arrival of the rout , found mutiny.

So where to go?Yanagi?Kasamatsu?Or Sumata?
None of this is good. If you cross the Kiso River again at this moment, it is tantamount to admitting your failure, and the entire army may collapse after crossing the Kiso River.

After much deliberation, Hideyoshi decided to take Kariyasu Kajo and Ichimiyagi nearby.After repairing, eat the nails of Kuroda Castle, and then continue to confront Tokugawa Ieyasu or divert to attack Katsuhata and Kanie depending on the situation.

Karianka Castle and Ichinomiya Castle were originally two small cities. With the arrival of Hideyoshi's army, they were quickly captured. Hideyoshi also set up his main camp in Ichinomiya Castle, and summoned Hachisuka Masakatsu and the remnants of Mino to report the situation. , With the narration of these warriors, the battle situation on the front line finally became clear.

It turned out that Hengxing Ikeda was eager to make contributions, and after crossing the river, he bit Oda Nobuo to death. After being discovered by the scouts arranged by Ieyasu Tokugawa to monitor on the bank of the river, he notified Ieyasu Tokugawa in time.

At this time, Ikeda Hengxing's march was very strange.
The first team was the 8000 troops led by him as the general;

The second formation was Kato Koyasu, and Hineno Hiroshi led the Hashiba Support Corps with 6200 people;
The third team was led by Kazutetsu Inaba with 4800 people in Nishimino;
The fourth team is 3000 people from Morinaga, who was not in harmony with Hengxing Ikeda before.

From God's point of view, the entire formation was typically top-heavy, and the general who was supposed to be in the center of command went to the front line to serve as the vanguard.

In fact, on the way Ikeda Hengxing marched, he encountered a small group of Tokugawa troops led by Shige Niwa.

But at this moment, Ikeda Hengxing only has the goal of the head of Oda Nobuo in his heart. He didn't pay attention to the Niwa clan's heavy team with only a few hundred people, but ordered the whole army to pursue Oda Nobuo at full speed. He must not be allowed to return smoothly. To Inuyama Castle.

I don't know why Niwa Shige made a mistake. There is a hundred times difference in the number of people, so he insisted on harassing Ikeda Hengxing all the time.

Finally, after the last round of shooting from the iron cannon, the stray bullets frightened Ikeda Hengxing's horse, and the horse leaped high, slamming him down on the ground.

Ikeda Hengxing, who was already extremely nervous, finally couldn't take it anymore, and said to his second son Ikeda Teruma, "Go and kill those annoying flies, go!"

After receiving the order, Teruma Ikeda led more than a thousand troops to chase after the Niwa family. Originally, this matter should have come to an end. The partial army was enough to monitor this small army, and the main force continued to move forward.

Who would have thought that Niwa, who was so serious about death, would laugh at Ikeda Hengxing once before leaving, and even held up a gold-encrusted head to show it, saying that he was Ikeda Motosuke's head, which has now been made into a wine vessel.

For Ikeda Hengxing, since the moment his eldest son died in battle, his name has become his taboo. Now that he heard the other party insulting his eldest son, Ikeda Hengxing pulled out the sword from his waist and said angrily, " Kill~ Kill them all, I will smash their corpses into thousands of pieces!"

Niwa Nagashige saw that Ikeda Hengxing had been irritated by him, so he hid in Harumiya Castle, which is the place of Jiangnan City in later generations.

This used to be an important branch of the Iwakura Oda family. It is on the Luocheng and the important traffic arteries connecting Mino and Owari. Although the city is small, it is quite solidly built. The more than 300 people of the Niwa clan can be completely flat into the city. On the various points of defense.

Ikeda Hengxing has been blinded by hatred, and after besieging Houmiyagi, he ordered a vigorous attack on the castle, throwing troops at all costs, and vowed to capture Niwa again and cut them down.

In the end, after an hour of hard work, Harumiya Castle was breached, and all 1 people in the castle, including those under the Niwa family, died in battle. Ikeda Hengxing did not want to take prisoners, and ordered all captured skirmishers to be chopped down one by one along the earthen wall of Harumiya Castle , to pay homage to the soul of his eldest son.

After dealing with the affairs of Hou Miyagi, Hengxing Ikeda went on the road again, turning to march to Inuyama in the northeast direction.

Due to some time delay in Haremiya, Ikeda Hengxing became more aggressive in marching speed, and there were constantly exhausted ashigaru and samurai falling behind.

Of course, Hengxing Ikeda was unwilling because they delayed his chance to catch Nobuo Oda. After handing it over to Mori Nagako's rear army to gather, he led the main force to continue marching, and finally caught up with Oragi at Koguchi Castle not far south of Inuyama. Tian Xinxiong's troops.

But at this moment, Oda Nobuo's troops of more than 1 people have already lined up against Xiaoguchi Castle, staring at Ikeda Hengxing's arrival, waiting for work.

After seeing Oda Nobuo on the opposite side, Ikeda Hengxing also ordered the troops to form a team, but because the whole army felt extremely tired after the high-intensity march just now, the team scattered into a crooked group, even if Hengxing ordered the whole team, the formation It can only be changed slowly.

Ikeda Hengxing wanted to give Oda Nobuo a hard lesson by relying on the superiority of numbers after the formation, but Oda Nobuo didn't give him a chance at all.

At this moment, the two armies were 1000 strides apart.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the formation of Ikeda's army, Oda Nobuo ordered the whole army to press forward, and finally ordered the whole army to charge when they were 500 steps away from the enemy.

So the Oda army took Kawaguchi Sokatsu as the vanguard, and the whole team took on the shape of an awl, rushing towards the Ikeda army who was forming the team.

As the vanguard of the Oda Army, Sokatsu Kawaguchi led a cavalry team of 775 people composed of Oda Nobuo Banner's team as the core and joined various cavalry military service samurai.

For a distance of 500 steps, for ordinary ashigaru, it takes about 2 minutes to charge, but for cavalry, it is just a few moments away.

Just as Hengxing Ikeda had time to put the iron cannons on the front line, the enemy cavalry rushed in front of them. Facing the charge of Kawaguchi Munekatsu's cavalry, the iron cannons could only sparsely fire a round of iron cannons and then retreated. .

Just how can two legs run faster than four?After only paying the price of more than a dozen people falling off their horses, this group of nearly a thousand cavalrymen, like a hammer, smashed heavily into the loose formation of Ikeda's army.

The horses took advantage of their horsepower and sprinted towards them for dozens of meters before stopping. Scores of Sergeant Ikeda fell down due to the impact of the horses, and were eventually trampled under the hooves of the horses.

After discovering that the cavalry team trapped in the army was unable to move, Shigekatsu Kawaguchi ordered all the samurai to dismount and fight on foot.

The heroic charge of this group of samurai inspired the remaining soldiers of the Oda Army. Under the leadership of Oda Nobuo, they immediately plunged into the Ikeda Army, and the soldiers of the two armies started a melee battle.

Hengxing Ikeda, who had become chaotic, had no choice but to order the soldiers to stand up.

At this moment, with the sound of an iron cannon, an iron cannon fired straight at Ikeda Hengxing. Fortunately, Ikeda Hengxing turned around and the projectile flew past his body, but Ikeda Hengxing also fell off the horse Down.

Ikeda Teruma, who saw his father falling off the horse, ran over anxiously, helped his father up, checked his father's body, and kept asking, "Father, are you all right?"

Ikeda Hengxing also survived the catastrophe. After a brief panic, he said, "I'm fine, hurry up and call the army, I'm fine."

The mother-in-law who received the order shouted loudly, "Master, the owner of the hall is all right, everyone will fight with all your heart!"

It was at this moment that Ikeda Hengxing took a good look at his body. He stroked his black Serena's red armor with both hands. Friction broke.

Panting heavily, Hengxing Ikeda calmed down the panic in his heart just now, and asked his son to help him up. Unexpectedly, the moment he just got up, a sharp pain came from his calf, and he fell here due to lack of effort. to the ground.

"Father~" "Master Master!" Ikeda Teruma and the nearby mothers said nervously.

As the adrenaline ebbed, a sharp pain hit Ikeda Hengxing's head, and he knew his leg was broken.

He tugged on his second son's armor and said, "Don't say anything, my foot seems to be broken. This is the critical moment. Don't affect morale. Hold me on the horse, I want to command the battle."

"Father, you." Ikeda Teruma cared and wanted to care about Ikeda Hengxing, but was interrupted roughly by him, "Quack! Do as I say."

There was no other way, Ikeda Teruma could only find a few samurai in mother clothes, carried Ikeda Hengxing on the horse, and he himself waited on the side.

At the same time, Hineno Hiroji and Kato Koyasu, who were in the second team, also rushed over to counter-encircle Oda Nobuo's team from the right.

Due to the addition of new forces, the situation of the shaky Ikeda Army has become relatively stable. Ikeda Hengxing knows that as long as Inaba Kazutetsu and Morinagako arrive, the victory will be locked by him, and Oda Nobuo can't escape.

The fact is, as Ikeda Hengxing said, as Inaba Kazutetsu led the Nishi Mino crowd to attack from the other side, Oda Nobuo's morale was hit to a certain extent. Seeing that he was at a disadvantage in numbers, he was about to be defeated The encircling Oda Army became a little unstable, and the balance of victory seemed to begin to tilt in the direction of the Ikeda Army.

At this moment, at this moment, Ikeda Hengxing was reminded by his retainer samurai, "Look, my lord, there seems to be another army behind us."

Since the sun has already slanted to the west at this moment, Ikeda Hengxing, who is located in the east, looked west, and was blocked by the dazzling eyes. He couldn't see who was coming, but he probably judged from the 3000 people under the mountain that it was his son-in-law Mori. Can be long.

So out of the consideration of boosting morale, Ikeda Hengxing excitedly said to the soldiers who were fighting fiercely, "Musashi Shou-sama is here! We still have reinforcements, and the enemy can't run away! What is in front of you is not the enemy, but the one who is alive and well." What a great military exploit! If you don’t stand up and kill the enemy, make such a great military exploit! Kill!”

After finishing speaking, he pushed aside his own soldiers in front, and rushed into the formation of the Oda Army. His son Teruma Ikeda and his mother's clothes were deeply encouraged, and followed closely behind him.

As mentioned above, the Ikeda army and the Oda army have been intermingled, you have me, and I have you, Ikeda Hengxing rushed towards the direction of Oda Nobuo Mayin.

The thrill of getting revenge soon made his adrenaline soar, so that he could not feel the pain from his leg, and he could see all the enemies while riding a horse and wielding the sword, slashing left and right.

"I only want the head of Oda Nobuo! I only want the head of Oda Nobuo!" Ikeda Hengxing saw that he was less than 200 steps away from Oda Nobuo, and shouted to the left and right.

"Everyone will charge with me, and whoever kills the head of Oda Nobuo will be named Wanshi Daimyo and the Lord of the City!" As if he was afraid that his order was not accurate enough, he repeated his statement that only the head of Oda Nobuo Command, and ask the surrounding mothers to convey it on their behalf.

Inspired by such great achievements, coupled with the influence of the Patriarch's example, the Ikeda army rushed towards Oda Nobuo like blood.

For them at this moment, behind them is the so-called ally Mori Musashi-sama, a samurai worthy of entrustment. They only need to obey the order of the lord Koda Hengxing, kill Oda Nobuo, avenge the young lord, and win by themselves. A future!
(End of this chapter)