Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 573 Sukagawa Lures the Enemy

On January 19th, the 1591th year of Tianzheng (1), after a short break for the Spring Festival, under the watchful eyes of his retainers, Hideka took the 6 troops temporarily formed by Todo Takatora, and his own bannermen and attendants totaled 7000 people On the way to the north.

The day before the departure, Xiujia specially asked the leader of the Tokugawa family's reinforcements, Yasumasa Sakakibara, to drink and reminisce about the old days, and expressed his gratitude for the closer relationship. As a result, this man brought a large number of Tokugawa samurai to the banquet, which made Xiujia originally only The private banquet prepared for two people turned into a banquet exclusively for the samurai of the Tokugawa family.

In fact, thanks to the Tokugawa family and Toyotomi Hideji's banquet, it was held as early as the New Year's Eve in the name of congratulating the New Year, but it turned out to be another one in disguise today.

The key is that the relationship they wanted to draw in was not drawn in, and the tone they wanted to talk about did not come out. From the eyes of everyone in the Tokugawa family, they could feel the strong hostility, which made the Xiu family very depressed.

It was only later that Xiujia found out that it was Ieyasu Tokugawa who found out that he had made friends with Sakai Tadaji before, and the gold sentence that was given to Sakai Tadaji became the best evidence that the Sakai family had informed him!

Tokugawa Ieyasu is of course a good person. First, he talked about the friendship between Sakai Tadaji and himself, expressing his trust in him, but also said that the current public opinion in the Tokugawa family is fierce, and Sakai Tadaji should be resettled in another place.

It was also because of this incident that the Tokugawa family's internal retainers felt like an enemy of the Xiu family, fearing that they would be tricked by the Xiu family again.

When Hideka returned from Olu and planned to explain to Tadashi Sakai on the way to Luo, they heard the news that he committed seppuku and committed suicide, which made Hideka very sad.

Hideka left Iwafu Castle on January 1, with 6 of his own, 6000 from Toyotomi Banner, and 1.2 from Nakagawa Kishihide, and headed north to Ou.

When passing through Furukawa Castle, I happened to meet 1500 people led by Ogasawara Hidetada from Shinano, and 1600 people from the Ueno Sanada family.

Since then, Ogasawara Hidetada went north to bring Masayuki Sanada's general enlistment aircraft, which made Masayuki Sanada, Nobuyuki Sanada and Nobushige Sanada father and son meet again after 6 years after they parted ways in Sanada Castle.

In particular, Sanada Masayuki and Sanada Nobuyuki, father and son, really haven't seen each other since the farewell to Sanada Castle. Although they are both in Shinano, they dare not see each other because of the power of Toyotomi and the Tokugawa family. .

During the Battle of Ogasawara, the father and son thought they could see each other, but who would have guessed that Ogasawara Hidetada did not bring Sanada Masayuki to line up.

On the contrary, the two brothers have met several times in the past few years. When Nobushige was helping him run Shinano, he passed through Matsuzaka Castle, and he was still able to meet his father.

The warm drama of the father and son reunion did not last long, and the army had to continue northward to Utsunomiya for training, where other Kwantung troops had already assembled.

When they arrived in Utsunomiya, there were 3000 people from the Utsunomiya family, 1000 people from Yuki Haruma, 800 people from Tagaya Shigeke, and 8000 people from Hitachi led by Satake Yoshinobu.

In addition, there are 400 members of Sano Nobukichi from the Shimomo family, 300 members from the Oseki Zengzi, and 450 members from the Shimoso family.

In addition to these people, Shimono daimyo Nasu Ziqing, whose territory had been confiscated, led 60 retainers to join the battle, and Shimoso's powerful family Koyama Hidetsune led 30 people to join the battle.

Hideka gave different answers to their request. First of all, Oyama Yuki was originally a family, and Hideka asked Yuuki Qingchao for his opinion.

He promised that if Koyama Hidetsuna made meritorious service after the war, he would give 1500 shi to Yuki's family as a seal. This part of the seal was actually awarded to Koyama Hidetsuna to accommodate him.

The Yuki family itself is a branch of the Xiaoshan family, but now they have taken in their own family instead.

And the most important thing is that Hidezuna Koyama was originally Yuki Haruto's elder brother. Yuki Haruto's real name was Koyama Haruto, and now the Yuki family's territory was originally brought over and rewarded to him by the Koyama family.

In fact, Yuuki Haruto asked the Hide family later. After all, Yuki Miao is a separated family. Can I call the family with my elder brother and realize the revival of the Xiaoshan family. At that time, I can give my elder brother 1500 people to resettle, but the Hide family refused.

Why?Because although the change of the Xiaoshan family did not come from Hideyoshi's Chrysostom, it was also a rebellious minister who was listed in the imperial court documents.

Even if it goes public through a backdoor, it should be the Xiaoshan family borrowing the Yucheng family's shell, not the Yucheng family borrowing the Xiaoshan family's shell. When the Luotong name is listed, he said: Isn't the Yucheng Xiaoshan family xxx trying to embarrass the court?

Moreover, the skills of the Xiaoshan family are in Shimono, the land is now in the hands of the Xiu family, and all the leaders of your Yucheng family are under Xiazong. Do you have any basis for restoring the name of the Xiaoshan family?
As for Nasu Ziqing, his situation is a bit special, Hideyoshi personally called him out and asked him to get rid of him, and Hideyoshi did not dare to easily agree to help him restore his status as a daimyo, but only said that he would give him a few words of kindness.

They begged Hideo to speak kind words in front of Hideyoshi, and if they could make meritorious service in this battle, they hoped to restore some territories.

The Xiu family reorganized the army here, with the 1.2w Toyotomi banner led by Toyotomi Hideji as the first formation;
Organize 6000 people from Satake Yoshinobu as the second team;
The military forces of Ogasawara Hidetada, Nakagawa Kiyohide, and Sanada Nobushige were organized into the third formation, with a total force of 5100, and the third formation's commander-in-chief was Nakagawa Kiyohide.

The 8000-member Xiujiaben team is the fourth team;
The 3000 people in Utsunomiya led by Utsunomiya Kunizun formed the fifth formation;
Yuuki Haruto, Sano Nobukichi, Oseki Sosuke, and Tagaya Shikekei led a total of 2500 troops as the post, responsible for the transfer of grain and fodder.

The army entered Iwadai after a change, and Toyotomi Hideji went to Hideo for one day. When they arrived in Shirakawa City, Hideka left 1 people behind to be responsible for the transportation of grain and fodder.

It is very close to Aizu Ichikui, and it is very likely that a group of Kuishi people came to Iwashiro over the mountain. If the back road of Iwashiro is cut off, there will be problems with the food and supplies of the army.

Nasu Ziqing was very dissatisfied with the arrangement of the Xiu family. He wanted to kill the enemy and make meritorious service, but the Xiu family said to him, "The most important thing for a samurai is to obey the arrangement of the superior. If Nasu-sama wants to make meritorious service by himself , you can leave this army and go to the battlefield to ask for the head of the bandit chief, and I will speak well for you when the time comes."

Hearing Hideka's threat, Nasu Ziqing kept silent.

The only enemy that the Hideo family and the army encountered in the north was the 1.5 people of Sukagawa Castle in the cage city. If you say that these 1.5 people are all mobs, even if the mob chooses the cage city and can't defend it, think about it. It is also a hassle to take it down.

Hideka thought over and over again and decided to adopt a tactic of fraud and encirclement. Hideka let Toyotomi Hideji lead 1.2 people to hide in the forest on the west bank of the Suka River, and let Satake Yoshishige lead to hide in the valley on the east bank of the Abukuma River. If he succeeds in defeat and lures people out, he seizes the opportunity to seize the city and block the escape route.

And let Kiyohide Nakagawa lead the third team, rush to the north of the Suka River to encircle the fish that slipped through the net, while he took his own team to form an array at Mt. Torimi, 5 kilometers to the south.

As for the troops that lure the enemy, they can only wrong the Utsunomiya family with the lowest combat power.

In fact, Utsunomiya Kunizun was not willing to take on this job at the beginning. The army under him was all from the Warring States period, and they were all organized by peasants and soldiers. He was afraid that the false defeat would become a real defeat. .

What the Xiu family wanted was this sense of reality, and they immediately handed over their Wuqitong pattern and the Ogasawara family's third-tier rhombus flag to him, and asked him to act as the main force in the north to support.

In addition, some money was also given to him, just to make him pretend to be more like. As for the military rations, he was not given any grains, because he was afraid that he would use them to aid the enemy.

Of course, what he said was that this was an opportunity for him to make meritorious deeds, and Xiujia believed that he was about to do it.

The plan began to be implemented soon, and Hideka was still a little worried about Utsunomiya Kunizun, so he personally took 1000 bannermen to follow him northward, and told him to run when he saw him running.

I don't know if it's because the intelligence work of the Yikui people is not good enough, or because Hideka is doing too much secrecy. The 3000 people led by Utsunomiya Kuntsuna went out from Mt. Kashima Pavilion.

Hideka pretended to set up his main camp at the Asahi Inari Shrine in the southwest of Sukagawa Castle, and then asked Utsunomiya Kunzuna to take 1000 people to sweep Wada Castle and Fushimi Castle in the southeast corner of Sukagawa.

All the above operations were carried out under the eyes of the Sukagawa Ichikui crowd. The next day, another 1000 people were sent to take a detour to take down the Shanchuankan on the east side of the Sukagawa. This is the only way for Satake Yoshinobu to go west.

In the eyes of the crowd, the total number of troops going north to support did not exceed 5000, and less than half of them were divided in two consecutive days.

The frontal enemy of the Hide family is weak in the eyes of everyone in Sukagawa Castle, not to mention that there are so many third-order water chestnuts and five-seven paulownia patterns that symbolize the Ogasawara family and the Toyotomi family hanging at the entrance of the Inari Shrine.

The Yikui Congregation is not entirely organized by peasants. It has been analyzed earlier that there will be a small number of warriors and ronin who fish in troubled waters. Many of them have some military power and political common sense.

Right now, there are 1.5 people on my own, but there are at most 3000 people on the opposite side. Judging from the flag seal, the leader must be a senior official of the Toyotomi family.

Right now in the whole of Olu, the only person who can use the third-order water chestnut and the five-seven-tree pattern at the same time is Ogasawara Xiuzhen, who happens to be the lord above them.

If Ogasawara Xiuzhen can be captured, and he can negotiate a price to get an understanding, not only will he stop land seizures and tax reforms, but he may even be granted a title by Zhixing in exchange for his own life.

The rebellion was originally a job with the head pinned to the waistband of the trousers. The few people who did it agreed to take people to raid the Inari Shrine early the next morning.

It's not that they don't want to attack at night. The people of Oyu are poor and almost all have night blindness. Let alone fighting at night, they can't even see the road clearly.

The next morning, the city was lit up with smoke all over the city, so I really didn't treat Xiu's side as an outsider.

Perhaps it was a cover-up for them, but the exposure of the cooking smoke made the Xiu family clear that the opponent was about to start an attack.

The Xiu family quickly sent people to inform the other three directions to get ready. When the time comes, Kiyohide Nakagawa's third team will be in charge of ending up and slowly advancing towards Sukagawa Castle. He especially asked not to rush to attack with Toyotomi Hideji and Satake Yoshinobu. City, their function is similar to fishing net pockets.

At the same time, he ordered the guards at Hotan Castle to refuse to guard Hotan Castle and Shanchuan Castle after receiving news of our withdrawal, and to cover the Satake Yoshimoto River.

At about 7:[-] in the morning, while waiting idly at Xiu's side, Sukagawa Castle finally opened, and a group of people came out from the city gate sparsely.

Perhaps in order to ensure the "suddenness" of the raid, the troops leaving the city shouted to come back to the Inari Shrine without even forming a team.

It was only 1 kilometer from Sukagawa Castle to Inari Shrine, and the soldiers of the Utsunomiya family didn't even need to act when they saw the crowd rushing towards them, with expressions of fear on their faces.

Seeing the Utsunomiya soldiers' bowed snake shadows, Hideka sighed helplessly.

I almost forgot that this group of guys are just as different as the group of people on the opposite side.

Hideka had no choice but to let Utsunomiya Kunisuna go out to organize the army and prepare to undertake the first wave of offensive.

But the farmers of the Utsunomiya family are really unreliable, and I don’t know who revealed the news that they are just bait. Since it is a bait, there is no need to work hard in this kind of place. Before the battle, there are [-] to [-]% of the farmers The group ran back.

It really echoed what Xiujia said when assigning tasks before, "It's really better than acting."

Xiujia was still a little worried about the acting skills of the Utsunomiya crowd, but in the end, only the outsiders fired a few arrows and then ran south, and they didn't even intend to return to the main camp of Inari Shrine.

And Utsunomiya Kunisuna, who was always by Hideka's side, also returned from the outside in horror, and begged Hideka, "Dainagon, shall we also withdraw?"

Looking at this frightened daimyo, Hideka reluctantly ordered the withdrawal of troops from the Inari Shrine, leaving part of the relevant money and food, and the rest were withdrawn by their bannermen on the road and scattered money.

On the side of the Xiu family, your bannermen and attendants are all cavalry, and the speed of galloping on horses and ponies must be faster than walking on two legs. The wooden or iron two-armored one who was a scorner ran to the front of the four-legged group of the Xiu family.

The bottom layer of the ashigaru iron armor is made of square iron sheets that are sewn on the leather armor. The thickness of the iron sheets is uneven, and the holes and stitches on it are only four corners. The protection is not as tight as that of the samurai. Little armor.

Even if the ashigaru armor of simple craftsmanship is lost, it doesn't feel bad. It costs only a few hundred dollars to rebuild one with waste patches, and the most expensive one is the leather armor inside.

The burnt ashigaru, such as the standing ashigaru of the Utsunomiya family, they wear is similar to the ashigaru of the samurai at that time. The difference is that the armor is thinner and the area is smaller, but the same is fixed with rivets. , Under the buttocks, there are leather or grass folds connected in series to protect the thighs.

The price of such an ashigaru carcass is not cheap, and it may not be paid without 2/3 of the money, which is equivalent to a year's field income of an ordinary farmer. Naturally, it is not easy to throw it away.

This caused the "elite" to fall to the back instead, becoming the best target to lure the enemy.At this time, a box full of copper coins fell to the ground in front of it.

Hideka and the others "escaped" from the Inari Shrine, and a group of Kui people rushed in and searched the shrine.Some of the Kui people who were outside saw the people going away, found the goods here, turned their heads like the Xiu family, and chased after them.

You can even hear the voice of someone commanding, "Catch Ogasawara Hidetada, and we will all be exonerated! Capture Ogasawara Hidetada alive, and everyone will be rewarded with money."

Not long after, several samurai on horseback chased after them, and killed several Utsunomiya family Banners who were slow-footed, and saw the shadow dancers left behind by the Hide family from a distance, and shouted to the left and right, "Hurry up, chase after me!" The one who is surrounded by horses is Koji Ogasawara! Everyone who catches them will be rewarded!"

The shout was as loud as thunder, and the hat on the shadow dancer's head fell off.A voice came from behind and said, "Hurry up, the person who rides without a helmet is Ogasawara Hideyoshi, and if he is captured alive, he will be rewarded a hundred times!"

The Xiu family himself is not here, if the Xiu family were here, they would not be able to complain: What's the matter, I've become a Cao thief?

(End of this chapter)