Prime Minister Bizen

Towards the afternoon of the battle, Toyotomi Hideji, who had an advantage in terms of military strength but hadn’t seen the situation on the north side to open up the situation and eat up the 4 Eastern Army crossing the river, disregarded Kuroda Rusui’s objection, and sent another 1 troops to the Nakatsu defense line. Potential.

So far, there are only about 3 Western troops on the frontal battlefield of Akashi City, which is equivalent to the 3 people on the Akashi defense line.

The reason why Hideji did this was that he hadn't seen Naishi on the other side making any moves all morning. He thought that today's offensive might be a self-assessed move by some generals of the Eastern Army who were dissatisfied with Ishida Mitsunari's sit-down battle, and Ishida Mitsunari still acted like an old Like the tortoise, he chose to stick to Akashi.

Then he wanted to use the time difference to defeat the 4 Eastern Army on the north side in the shortest possible time.

But things are contrary to what he thought. The delay in opening up the situation in the north is not caused by the lack of troops on the north side. The north side previously had an army of 6, and fighting with an army of 4 is itself an advantage.

It’s just that the width of the battlefield is so large. Only about 4 people were invested on the three front lines of the Western Army on the north side, while only 2 people from the Eastern Army actually participated in the front line.

Toyotomi Hideji's strategic move this time is actually more like a tactic of adding oil. The key is that the oil has not been added yet, and it is all spilled out.And all this is exactly what Ishida Mitsunari expected.

Seeing that the Western Army was unable to open up the situation in the north, Toyotomi Hideji became even more anxious. He ordered his younger brother Hideho to take Kii and Wakayama's elite to the north to supervise the battle in person, and must gather and annihilate the Eastern Army that crossed the river to attack under Nakatsu Castle.

Looking at another unit of the Western Army on the other side of the river coming out, Mitsunari Ishida, who was looking at the occupation in Akashi Castle, knew that the time had come.

He ordered the remaining 3 Eastern Army in Akashi City to come out together, and attack the pontoon bridge on Akashi River with 3200 people from Huangmuyizhong, Yushi Fanzhong, and Yujiezhong as the head of the attack.

These troops are the elite of the Toyotomi family, different from ordinary banners, all of them are descendants of samurai, the worst is that generations of foot light people were promoted to the group because of their meritorious service, with rich fighting and killing skills .

Even in terms of combat effectiveness, it is much stronger than the Yu Jia Zhong, Yu Side Zhong and Yu Xiao Xing Zhong who mainly serve as guards of honor.

This was Chacha's last trump card to Ishida Mitsunari. No matter how dangerous Akashi Castle was before, these 3200 people never participated in the battle.Now the time has come, and naturally it is time to draw the sword out of its sheath.

Accompanied by the above-mentioned three imperial guards, there was also a group of warriors holding tubes of various sizes. I saw that they had established a position in Mingshichuan and kept the tubes in their hands on the ground.

After a round of operation, following the order of the samurai, the cylinders exploded, and flames emerged from the mouth of the cylinder, as if something was pushed out of the cylinder and sent towards the opposite bank.

However, not all the barrels could be fired smoothly, and several even exploded directly on the spot, killing the ashigaru who were operating around.

If the Xiu family or the Kyushu Shimadzu family were here, they might be familiar with these weapons. It turns out that these barrels are not large bronze barrels, but stone fire arrow barrels with iron barrels.

Some age can be seen from the rust on some barrels.That's right, these are the stone fire arrows that Hideyoshi confiscated from the Shimadzu family when Hideyoshi conquered Kyushu 11 years ago. They were considered useless by Hideyoshi at the time of Okayama Castle, but Ishida Mitsunari found them again after many years of storage. .

Ishida Mitsunari regarded him as a super-large-caliber iron cannon, and collected dozens of them in general. One round of shelling directly blasted 6 to 7 of them, making the remaining Ashgaru somewhat afraid of operating this kind of firearm.

Fear is nothing but fear, but the effect of the stone pellets shot is really good. Although the accuracy depends entirely on God's will, the explosion of the projectiles shelled to the opposite bank did cause quite a commotion among the crowd.

Seeing that the effect was good, under the compulsion of the warriors, they could only bite the bullet and reload and prepare to shoot.

The lives of the ashigaru people are worthless, but if Ishihaya can open the situation and help the three people break through the pontoon defense line and gain a firm foothold, so that the 3 people on their side can cross the river and seal the victory, then this sacrifice is worth it .

In addition to Shi Huoya, Ishida Mitsunari did not know where to fiddle with some cannonball jade, which was the only part left when he was defending the city, and all of them were thrown into the battle of crossing the river.

Most of the troops on the front line of the pontoon bridge are the Chikuzen members of the Kobayakawa family. In order to restore Chikuzen's 42 koku territory, their will to fight has nothing to say.

However, the Kobayakawa people who had been the main force of the siege had long been exhausted, and they themselves were remote country warriors. After losing their backbone, their fighting power was not comparable to that of the elite Yu Sanzhong.

But now the Eastern Army on the opposite side is armed with stones and fire arrows, and it is also armed with guns and jade. The situation of the Kobayakawa troops on the pontoon bridge is completely chaotic.

Although the high-ranking warriors kept shouting for the ropes of the pontoon to be cut, the Akashi River was so wide, and the iron cannons on the opposite side were sticking to the shore and shooting at the Western Army's defense line. Even if they knew they would be shot by the Western Army, they would not retreat.

The Western Army built a total of 3 pontoon bridges on Mingshi River, and finally tried their best to cut off the rope of one pontoon bridge, allowing it to take the lives of more than a dozen Yusanzhong soldiers.

However, most of the soldiers of the imperial army crossed the Akashi River from the other two pontoon bridges, thinking of Kokubo Castle Hideji's main battle, and behind them was Toyotomi Banner with more than 2 people.

The Kobayakawa crowd whose formation had already been disrupted no longer regained the organization speed they had during the siege, and were defeated by the impact of the Yusan crowd.

After the Kobayakawa group was the Kuroda family's army, the governor Kuroda Nagamasa lost a lot of courage when he saw the situation ahead, but his father and Hideji didn't send him an order to withdraw the troops, so he could only hold back On the front line here, buy time for the subsequent changes.

【PaTa】【PaTa】

Just when he was about to say something to boost morale, he suddenly felt his face wet, and when he looked up, it was raining in the sky.

At the same time, in Kokubo Castle's main formation, Hideji's face turned red after hearing Ishida Mitsunari's soldiers crossing the river to attack his side, staring at the situation in the east.

Hideji, who had just seen Ishida Mitsunari come out, had just issued an order to the front line to stick to the front line. He never thought that the Akashikawa line would be broken by Ishida Mitsunari shortly after the order was issued.

He turned to look at Kuroda Rushui behind him, and asked him for advice.But Kuroda Rushui just frowned with some pain and didn't see him speak for a long time.

At this time, Kuroda Rushui's heart is very broken. I just told you not to send troops to the north for support. You have to listen to the troops in the north. Now that the front of the formation is weak and someone has seized the opportunity, you came to ask me for my opinion?
"Reconnaissance, how about bringing back the army that went to the north to support?"

Hideji's proposal had just been said, but was immediately rejected by Kuroda Rushui, "It's obvious that people's hearts are not in harmony when it is magnified. Now if you see the army retreating from the rear, whether it goes south to support the main army or not, it will shake the morale of the army in the north. At that time If the northern front is defeated, and the Eastern Army pinches the main formation from the north and east, then we will lose completely."

"Then what's the reason?" Hideji's voice had just finished, and he stretched out his hand for a try, only to find that the sky started to rain. Kuroda Rushui, who was sitting in the hall, was a little slow to react, but soon realized that the environment had changed.

With a muffled thunder in the distance, it seemed that a heavy rain was coming.

"His Royal Highness now raises the flag of righteousness and personally leads the formation to stabilize the situation and boost morale. I will gather the Kobayakawa people in the rear, and once the recovery is complete, I will wait for them to support Your Highness."

Seeing that Toyotomi Hideji had concerns about going out in person, Kuroda Rusui continued to persuade, "The battle opportunity is fleeting, and if His Highness does not act, it will arouse the suspicion of the front soldiers.

Now that the weather is beautiful and rain falls, Mingshi River has always been a story of flooding. If it can be sustained until the water in the upper reaches soars, it will be enough to cut off the retreat of the enemy army that has crossed the river.Our side can win! "

Kuroda Rushui's last words gave Toyotomi Hideji strong support for his determination.He thinks this is the battle that the monk said before.

If I can completely win Ishida Mitsunari in Akashi, not only Osaka Castle will surrender for me, but even Hideka who is far away in North Korea can only prostrate at his feet.

Hideji made up his mind to call his attendants to put on clothes for himself, and it took some time to go back and forth. As the rain outside continued to increase, Hideji led his Gifu crowd of more than 5000 people out of Xiaokubo Castle. Raised the banner high, announcing his arrival to the entire battlefield.

Ishida Mitsunari, who was still on the east bank at the moment, heard the news that Nishi Toyotomi Hideji had joined the battle, and he couldn't help praising this enemy, "Master Sun Qi is quite like Guan Bai in the past, but it's a pity that he can't be the minister of the prime minister. .”

As the rain intensified, the clothes on the soldiers were all wet by the rain, and the whole one was very uncomfortable to stick to the body, and even the murderous movements also appeared out of shape.

There are farmlands in many places on both sides of the Akashi River, which had gradually hardened because of the war before, and now the farmlands have become muddy again with the rain, and soldiers from both sides of the East and West are fighting in these fields.

And because of the rain, the stone fire arrows that were originally shooting on the east bank to disrupt the formation of the western army were all useless, all the iron cannons in the east and west were temporarily disabled, and the shooting accuracy of bows and arrows was also affected by the rain, and the two sides returned to the most primitive state of fighting .

However, due to the insufficient width of the battlefield, the wielding of long spears is limited, and they can only repeatedly stab or slap up and down. In addition, the muddy ground on their feet restricts their movement. The spear skills and pace that warriors are proud of are fundamentally Unable to use it, the gap between the samurai and the ashigaru is infinitely narrowed.

Therefore, the most beneficial ones are those of the Western Army. After all, the proportion of warriors is higher than that of the samurai. There is even an Eastern Army composed of pure warriors. There are even a certain proportion of farmers and soldiers in the team.

And if the samurai can't display their gorgeous spear skills, they can only rely on the most common stabbing, then it is not as beneficial as the Sanken spear in the hands of the foot, because the Sanjian spear is longer and more flexible, and it depends on how it is carried out. The technique of slapping the gun quilt up and down.

I'm afraid Lian Toyotomi Hideji and Ishida Mitsunari did not expect that the situation on the battlefield would change in an instant, and the Eastern Army, which had clearly had the upper hand before, was counterpressed by the Western Army.

Moreover, because of the rising water potential behind them, many members of the Eastern Army had no choice but to push forward in reverse, which eventually led to riots in the Eastern Army's internal training.

Seeing the suppression of the Eastern Army, Yoriji Oto, the general of the Hideyoshi Banner, ran from the bank to Ishida Mitsunari and suggested, "If I am not here today, everyone on our side is squeezed on the bank, and the water in Akashi River is soaring. Withdraw people to the east bank and organize a second offensive later.”

Everyone is a battle-tested samurai, and it is impossible for those around Ishida Mitsunari not to notice that the situation has changed. How can it be your turn to come back from a front-line general to give advice.

In fact, Ishida Mitsunari's side, Mori Hideaki, has already raised this question to him. Mori Hideaki is a descendant of the Shiba family. His father, Mori Hideyori, has served Kunioda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and previously served as Takato Castle Lord.

Previously, the Mori family was awarded 6 koku of Kyushu, but after Mori Hideyori died in 1593, his son Xiuqiu was only allowed to inherit 1 koku, and the territory was transferred from Kyushu to Tamba, but it was still a daimyo.

Mitsunari Ishida doesn't even take advice from daimyo, would he take advice from you, a high-ranking bannerman from Toyotomi's family?
But seeing the voices around him admonishing him became more and more fierce, he also put forward his own thoughts, "This is a decisive battle, and there is no retreat. Pass the order forward, and if you are in a deadly situation, you should fight with your back to protect your loyalty!"

However, in this environment, the advantages of the Eastern Army could not be brought into play at all, and the Western Army had partial advantages, and some soldiers of the Eastern Army near the river had already been squeezed out of Mingshichuan.

As the upstream water flow increased, even the soldiers on the pontoon bridge were unable to bear their balance and fell from the pontoon bridge to the water surface. So far, the Eastern Army's road connecting the two sides of the river was almost cut off.

You must know that due to the capacity of the battlefield, there are only more than [-] troops between the eastern and western armies fighting together. Even more than half of the eastern army has not yet crossed the river. This completely cut off the possibility of crossing the river, even if the water level in the upper reaches has reached The position of the chest, coupled with the turbulent water flow, made it impossible to swim on foot.

The Eastern Army who had already crossed the river knew that there was no retreat, and indeed showed amazing combat effectiveness as Ishida Mitsunari expected. However, as the water flow became larger, a pontoon bridge was washed away by corpses and trees washed down from the upper reaches. Contact can only rely on the only wooden bridge.

Even if Ishida Mitsunari did not give an order, the Eastern Army in the southern battlefield had already begun to run towards the only retreat, and the front line was torn apart.

The good news is that the rain in the sky has gradually weakened. Ishida Mitsunari personally led people to the bridge and shouted to the soldiers of the Eastern Army who were fleeing eastward on the bridge, "Don't retreat! The rain will stop soon, I will take advantage of this battle Win!"

But people have finally escaped from the predicament, how can they have the courage to dare to break into the cage again, the most important thing is that the rain in the sky has weakened, but can you guarantee that it will stop raining?
Even the samurai ignored Ishida Mitsunari's shouts. Tens of thousands of people wanted to squeeze on this 3-person-wide pontoon bridge. Throw yourself out to sea.

Mingshichuan is not far from the sea, and here is also the mouth of Mingshichuan. If you are a few hundred meters away, people will be completely engulfed by the sea water, and there is no chance for people to react.

Seeing that the situation was irreversible, Ishida Mitsunari sighed helplessly and gave the order to withdraw troops, but his sigh was not for the death, but for the soldiers.

In his opinion, it is an extremely honorable thing for a samurai to die on the battlefield, and he sighed that he could not win the Western Army in one go.Obviously there is no problem with his own arrangements, and it is obviously beneficial to occupy his side before, but because of a rain, the situation of both sides reversed.

He could only look up to the sky and sigh: "Could it be that even the heavens are on the side of the rebellious minister?"

This thunderstorm passed quickly, and the sky cleared within an hour. Except for the corpses floating on the Akashi River, there seemed to be no evidence that the sudden rain had changed the situation.

As the rain weakened, the soldiers of the Eastern Army who were fighting hard in the north also took advantage of the opportunity of the lower water level to initially withdraw to the east bank, but the Eastern Army who fought in the southern decisive battle did not have such a good opportunity.

Thousands of people have already crossed the Mingshi River, and only one pontoon bridge survived in the end. In addition to the soldiers who were squeezed out of the Mingshi River and the soldiers whose heads were beheaded, only more than 2000 people successfully retreated to the east bank. Got a remainder of 5000.

Even in an army of tens of thousands of people, such a number of damages is still traumatic.The most important thing is that the Huangmu Yizhong, Yushi Fanzhong, and Yujiezhong Yu Sanzhong that Chacha handed over to him suffered great losses. Only more than 600 people successfully retreated to the east bank, and most of them were all folded on the opposite side.

This is only the battle losses on the southern front. More than 2 people crossed the river on the north side, and nearly 15000 people were lost. The entire Eastern Army lost nearly 1 people in total after this decisive battle, reaching a level of 5/[-].

Ishida Mitsunari has to take the greatest responsibility for the Akashi decisive battle that he insisted on going his own way.But if you really want to say that it was all Ishida Mitsunari's fault, he would be unconvinced, because if there hadn't been that shower, he would have stood in Kokubo Castle at this moment and ordered the pursuit and suppression of the generals of the Western Army.

However, in the face of other generals criticizing him, Ishida Mitsunari, who was selected by Chacha as the general, did not care about the damage of this battle. It was not because he was willing to take on this responsibility, but because he received a letter from Kyoto. The latest battle report!