Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 803 East-West Battle (Fifteen) Suruga Decisive Battle ([-])

Early the next morning, with the sound of the conch horn, the Tanaka Castle barracks became busy.Late yesterday, the formations had completed their reorganization, and gradually left Tanaka Castle under the leadership of their respective captains and generals.

The Xiu family was the last to leave, and he had to wait for the second group of people from the ferry under Masatoshi Suga to arrive before going on the road together. Fortunately, by noon, the follow-up troops were also replenished one after another. The fourth and fifth formations , In the sixth formation, the Mobile Rangers moved to the northwest one after another. In Tanaka Castle, only Togawa Tatsuan's second formation, which was left as a wounded soldier, remained.

Of course, Hideka also left the Daikin Cannon and Kamui Cannon in the team, which were not convenient for Ito, in the city together with them, and there were more than 600 soldiers in charge of operating the cannon.

The northwest route was specially chosen by the Xiu family. Walking along this road is like going to Zouwayuan City. This is the main road of Donghai Avenue in history, and it is combined with the south side along Tianma Street. Only the Ashikaga family could completely confuse the ninjas that the Tokugawa family was secretly investigating, and made another move to divide their troops.

However, when the army marched halfway, it turned to the north and crossed the valley road to the ruins of Huacang Castle. After controlling Tanaka Castle, the Dixiu family sent a small number of banners to clean it up. Although there are not enough houses for the soldiers now. To rest, you can only set up tents in the mountains, but the rammed earth of the original Huacang Castle ruins can still be used as the foundation of the camp.

The reason for choosing Huacang Castle is very simple, because Huacang Mountain is like a big hand opening to the south, and Huacang Castle is built on the top floor.With the abandonment of Huacang City, the trees on the top of the hill have grown again in the past few decades.In addition, there is Qingshui Mountain on the south side of Huacang Mountain, which can be used as a barrier to block the sight of the Tokugawa family. It is not easy for people to ambush the soldiers between the two mountains.

In order to prevent being detected by the ninjas of the Tokugawa family, and in order to have enough reaction time before facing the attack of the Tokugawa family's army, the Hide family sent a small number of soldiers and ninjas to the left and right Twin Mountains and Irino Mountains, and the south side as a cover Qingshui Mountain as a warning.

It was against this background that the 3 troops of the Tokugawa family led by Tokugawa Hidetada, Sakakihara Yasomasa and others left the city from Sumfu, entered the Fujieda Plain after successively conquering Maruko Castle, and surrounded Tanaka Castle.

In order to show the enemy's weakness, Togawa Tatsuan did not make too obvious a performance of resistance, which also allowed the Tokugawa army to besiege the city calmly.

After receiving the news that the siege of the Tokugawa army had been completed, Hideya sent ninjas to find Nobushige Sanada in an ambush in the upper reaches of the Kashina River on the east side, and the Ashikaga family, Shigee Toyotomi and others on the west side.

The Tōkaidō in September of the 8th year of Keicho was destined to be no longer ordinary, and the wars that took place here were also destined to be recorded in history.

On the 18th, the soldiers on the ruins of Huacang City were nervously swallowing hard rice balls in the water. In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, Xiujia distributed the salted fish prepared before to each soldier in half. .

Of course, it was difficult for these dried salted fish to taste at this time, but the whole army did not complain, and everyone knew that the battle was imminent, and a tense atmosphere began to spread in the army.

Even the Xiu family himself ate salted fish and kombu with tea and rice, but at the moment he was more nervous than anyone else, and he put the prepared meals in the toilet, but the Xiu family couldn't eat a single bite, no He kept turning the beads in his hand.

Finally, the sound of trampling horses came from the bottom of the mountain. The only ones who could ride horses near Huacang City in this late night were envoys who were ordered to contact them.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, an envoy with a centipede pattern on his back came to the shogunate, knelt in front of the Xiu family and reported to the Xiu family, "My lord, His Highness Guan Lin has taken the Maruko Castle, but he has not been able to defeat the enemy." It was completely wiped out in the city, and some remnants fled here. I am afraid that the Tokugawa camp in Tanaka Castle will get news soon.

His Highness Guanlin has already ordered the whole army to march here, and it is estimated that they will join His Highness in another hour. "

The Hide family did not blame Sanada Nobushige for failing to wipe out the enemy at Maruko Castle, but instead picked up a handful of golden beans from the side and handed them to the envoy as a reward.

Nobushige Sanada's reply to the letter went well, and Hideya finally calmed down a little bit, and picked up the cool ochazuke that had been left aside for a long time and slammed it down in one breath.

After finishing eating the ochazuke in the bowl, Xiujia even used his hand to pull the rice grains sticking to the wall of the bowl, and only after confirming that all the rice grains had been eaten in his stomach did he put down the bowl contentedly.

Then, under the watchful eyes of the attendants, banners and generals in the shogunate, Xiujia picked up the military equipment and slowly stood up, pointed to the southeast side and said, "The whole army is attacking!"

"Roar~!" The generals who received the order only responded to Xiu's family within a small area, and then set out from Huacang Mountain and Qingshui Mountain Valley in an orderly manner according to the arrangement that Xiu's family had made during the day.

Tokugawa Hidetada's army besieged Tanaka Castle with 3 people. He set up the main camp in Aoyama Hachiman Shrine on the north side of Tanaka Castle. Later, a shrine was built here to celebrate the capture of Tanaka Castle.

The biggest advantage of Aoyama is that the foot of the mountain extends to the bank of the Yeli River. Not only is it the commanding height of the surrounding area, but the main formation can also obtain water sources nearby. However, if the enemy wants to attack them, they need to cross the Yeli River, a tributary of the Asahina River.

But there is also a problem in this way, that is, the main force of the siege is on the south side of Yelichuan, while the main formation and a small number of troops to which it belongs are on both sides of the green hills on the north side.Once encountering the enemy's surprise attack from behind, it is very likely that it will be overwhelmed.

But Tokugawa Hidetada and Sakakibara Yasomasa have not thought of this at the moment, because according to their intelligence, more than 2 people from Hideo's branch have entered Yuanjiang from the north and south branches, so how can there be an army to threaten them? ?
In fact, Tokugawa Hidetada's arrangement Hideka had the opportunity to directly surprise the Aoyama Honjin, but Hideka did not do so. Instead, he ordered the soldiers to bite the straw in their mouths, only under the condition of 100 people and one torch lighting Follow the light quietly forward.

Fortunately, the sky was beautiful. At this time, the moonlight was hanging high in the sky. Although it was not a full moon, it was enough for the soldiers to see the way forward vaguely.

Aoyama Shrine is where Hideya had expected that Tokugawa Hidetada would set up the main formation, so he moved his team to the east to block Tokugawa Hidetada's retreat. After more than an hour of slow marching, the whole army was finally completed. The established goal of arraying along the Asahina River.

Hideka established the headquarters in a village on the east bank of the Asahina River. This is a high earthen platform around it. Although it is not as wide as the Aoyama Shrine, it can also overlook the battles on both sides of the Asahina River.

In the fourth formation, Masatoshi Suga's troops were entrusted with important tasks by Hideo, and 5800 of his troops were arranged by Hideo on the west bank of the Asahina River, and they would also encounter the most powerful Tokugawa Army head-on.

Hideka's main formation lined up along the Asahinagawa River. In addition to the entourage stationed in the main formation and the second row of bannermen to supplement, Hideka even invested in the second line of Gomoto, which has been stationed in Toyochun City all year round. .

The fifth formation, Ukita Sokatsu's troops, did not follow Hideya to the nearby formation. Hideya left them at the ruins of Asahiyama Castle behind Aoyama. When the battle started, they would be responsible for cutting in from the rear of the Tokugawa family's main formation. , launched a pincer attack on the enemy at the junction of Ye Lichuan and Asahinagawa.

The mobile force previously reserved by the Xiu family was left behind by the Xiu family in the rear of the fourth formation to ensure that it could support Suga Masatoshi's troops who were at a disadvantage in strength when necessary.

The actions of an army of tens of thousands of people cannot escape the eyes of Tokugawa Army ninjas. After all, even if a torch is held by a hundred people, the number of torches held by a team of more than 2 people is more than 200. These little lights appear in the dark night. Don't be garish.

Not to mention that Tokugawa Hidetada was awakened in his sleep not long ago and learned the news that Maruko Castle was recaptured by Fengchun Army.

At this moment, there is only one thought in his mind, "Why did the Fengchun Army take back the meaningless Maruko City?"

Until I received information that I saw some light shaking in the dark night on the east side, and after sending people closer, I found that there seemed to be an army marching under the moonlight, but because it was too dark, and the probing ninjas did not dare to get too close, The specific circumstances are not clear.

In fact, it wasn't that they didn't dare to approach, but that the Hide family had already cast out all the ninjas at this moment, and started a ninja battle with the Tokugawa family Iga on both sides of the Asahina River, and the ninjas of both sides competed in this open space , are all the lords who lived out their lives and brought the information back to their homes.

At this moment, Tokugawa Hidetada had no sleep at all, so he reminded him of the reminder that Sakakibara Yasumasa had told him before going to bed. He could only keep numbing himself, making himself believe that this was just a small army, and he would naturally be able to repel it after dawn.

However, he still summoned the generals of the Tokugawa generals at Qingshan Shrine to discuss military discussions. After knowing that there was an unknown army in his rear, how could the generals follow the Fengchun army during the day and kick Xiujia's ass? With a proud look, they all showed terrified expressions.

Fortunately, Sakakibara Yasumasa was the calmest. After appeasing the generals, he said to Tokugawa Hidetada, "Young master, there is no need to worry. Our rear is not wide, and we can't garrison too many troops. Compared with this part, it is just It’s just a small number of soldiers who harass the rear, wait until dawn to see the situation clearly and send people to drive away.”

In fact, he still didn't say a word. According to his thoughts during the day, the Xiu family put heavy troops in Wanzi City, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, to block the pursuers behind. What about the simple strategic purpose of chasing soldiers?
If it is true, there is only one possibility.

The Xiu family really had no soldiers to stay in, and it was time to put all their eggs in one basket and take down Hamamatsu.

But is reality really as good as this?Komasa Sakakihara only felt that his eyelids kept twitching again and again, and a feeling of uneasiness flooded his whole body.

On the contrary, Tokugawa Hidetada accepted Sakakihara Yasomasa's suggestion, and after calming down the emotions of the generals, rearranged the arrangement of the formation.

But he hadn't made any arrangements for who to send to the battle, and there was a commotion outside the shrine.

Tokugawa Hidetada looked out rather displeased. Okubo Tadada, his attendant who grew up with him, often went out to inquire in person, but brought back a blood-stained man with a solemn expression.Take a closer look, who could it be if it wasn't Hattori Hanzo?

"Hanzo, why are you like this?" Tokugawa Hidetada asked in surprise seeing Hattori Hanzo's wounded appearance.

Hattori Hanzo looked up at the boy in front of him, the fresh scars on his face looked particularly terrifying.

He slowly opened his mouth to report the latest information, "I came from Okayama and brought my lord's orders, but I encountered Fengchun's army in Yuanjiang, so I had to temporarily stay in Guacheng.

Your Highness, the Toyoharu army that marched to Kakegawa was all fake, it was the old and weak Suruga that they were engulfing.At this moment, they have given up all these people, and the people fled to Kakegawa City to report.

I deeply felt that the situation was not good, so I immediately took people across the mountains to inform His Highness, and on the way, I encountered the Fengchun Legion that was speeding up and heading this way! "

"What! Is there Fengchun Army?" Tokugawa Hidetada couldn't sit still when he heard the news. He stood up and asked him, "How many people are there? When will they arrive?"

"At most, it will take half a day. As for the number of people, we have not seen clearly late at night, and we were discovered very quickly, and we even fought against the wind demons.

But as far as this level of secrecy is concerned, the main force of the Fengchun family should not be wrong!I saw An Fang Yu Kita's Maru no Ken Kataku Banner in the formation. "

Hattori Hanzo finally told the most important information before he fell into a coma. Tokugawa Hidetada looked at Hattori Hanzo who had fainted, but had no choice but to let him take him down for treatment.

When he turned to look at the retainers in the formation again, he found that their faces were terribly cold.He could only speak to reassure everyone, "It's nothing serious, the rapid U-turn is the old routine of their Toyotomi family.

It was in China back then, and it was the same in Jianyue later, and it was still the same in the battle of Nooyu.Guan Bai was like this back then, but now the Youfu is just doing the same.As long as we hurry back to Junfu tomorrow morning, we won't be afraid of being chased by them. "

Tokugawa Hidetada's answer obviously did not appease people's hearts. Everyone looked at me and I looked at you, but they didn't respond.

On the contrary, Yasumasa Sakakibara took the initiative to disapprove of Tokugawa Hidetada's idea, "If it was the main force of the Ufu who turned back from Kakegawa, why did he coerce the old and the weak to go west? Wouldn't it be more effective to suddenly turn back in front of Kakegawa with his real main force? Is it secrecy and surprise?"

Tokugawa Hidetada actually thought of this, but he didn't say it because he wanted to appease the army.But it is clear that Sakakibara Komasa believes that the current military spirit cannot be appeased, so it is better to confess the reality so that the generals can fight their way out with the determination to die.

Hearing Sakakibara Komasa's words, the other generals below directly ignored Tokugawa Hidetada, looked at the elder and asked, "What does Shikibu mean?"

Sakakibara Komasa ignored Tokugawa Hidetada's eyes, and still chose to make his thoughts public and said, "I'm not sure, and I have to send people to continue to investigate east, south, and north. Especially the old toe of Hanakura, which was not designed by Hirohito, if west If the enemy on the side is not the main force."

Yasumasa Sakakibara did not finish his words, but the meaning of his words was clearly expressed.Everyone who heard this answer frowned even deeper.

"If the enemy is really ambushing in Huacang City, the top priority is to protect the formation." His voice fell, and someone below said, "I suggest that the young master move the formation to prevent surprise attacks by enemies from the rear!"

The one who spoke was Masakatsu Abe, who was from the near side of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was the Banner Goban general left by Tokugawa Ieyasu to Tokugawa Hidetada. It was his duty to care about Tokugawa Hidetada's safety.

But his proposal was quickly vetoed by Yasumasa Sakakibara. "The main camp cannot be moved. Now that the enemy's situation is unknown, moving the main camp here will not only cause riots, but also give the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of it. It may also hit the enemy head-on."

Masakatsu Abe didn't care about the final victory of the battle. This was a matter for Yasunari Sakakibara to worry about. He only cared about Hidetada Tokugawa's safety.

Therefore, after being refuted the suggestion, he will reply angrily: "Then what do you say?"

Sakakibara Komasa glanced around, looked at the young general sitting at the bottom seat and said, "Maybe you can deploy Matsudaira and Izumi Mamoru (Matsudaira Iamori) and Zoumon Inaba (Zouwa Laisui) to support the formation. As for the others We will wait until dawn to make any changes to our arrangements!"

Yasumasa Sakakibara made an arrangement, and everyone turned their target to Tokugawa Hidetada. After getting his approval, the two retainers responded, "We'll go back and prepare, and we'll bring people over right away."

Tonight was a sleepless night for both sides of the war. Xiujia, who had long been unwilling to launch an offensive before dawn, ordered the formations to rest after they reached their formation positions.On the contrary, Tokugawa feared that Xiu's family would be attacked at night, so he didn't dare to sleep all night.

The entire Aoyama Shrine's main formation spent the night in this kind of panic. With the whiteness of the east, the generals who had hung their hearts all night and wanted to relax a little were startled by the noise outside.

Not long after, a samurai ran in in horror, pointed at the east side of the curtain and said tremblingly, "Enemy enemy. There are many, many enemies!"

(End of this chapter)