Prime Minister Bizen

As the sky brightened, Tokugawa's main formation, which was anxiously waiting to be attacked by the night, heard such news just after relaxing. It was a bolt from the blue for all the generals in the main formation.

Tokugawa Hidetada took the lead and rushed to the outside of the shogunate. He had to witness with his own eyes that the words from the people below were true.

But the reality severely shattered his fantasy. As far as he could see, the Fengchun Army had already lined up along the banks of the Asahina River.The enemy seemed to be making the final preparations before the battle. The rangers were interspersed among the various formations to pass on military orders. In addition, there were respective captains and battalion generals who shuttled between the formations, and finally checked the equipment.

At this moment, in the Asahinagawa Toyoharu Army's main formation, Hideya was sitting upright and looking towards the western hilltop, even though it was far away, he could still vaguely see the commotion in the formation.

Holding a bowl of ginger soup to dispel the cold, Xiujia looked towards the top of the mountain and murmured: "Come on, Xiuzhong. The game has been set for you, it depends on how you play."

After drinking a cup of ginger tea, Xiujia's body immediately warmed up. She stood up and shook her arms a few times to stretch her stiff body.At this moment, everyone in Fengchun's main formation held their breath and waited for the order from the Xiu family.

Xiujia sat back in his seat after stretching for a while, his face was full of confidence.He took a deep breath and calmly issued the military order "Start the attack!"

"Roar~!" In response, the attendants in the formation roared in unison, and this roar spread throughout the entire Fengchun army formation from near to far like a sound wave.

After that, a flag-bearer holding a big red flag was in front of the formation, waving the red flag desperately to the west.

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On the other hand, Tokugawa Hidetada in Aoyama Hachimangu Shrine already had regrets in his heart, regretting that he did not listen to Sakakibara Komasa's suggestion to march westward slowly.

But now he still has a question, that is, how did the Fengchun Legion in front of him come here?

"Is that the sword-piangu flag? There seems to be a flag with the word '仁' on it?" The sharp-eyed samurai on the green hill saw the strangeness of Asahinagawa Gotoyoharu's main formation, but he was not sure because the distance was too far away.

But his opinion still attracted the attention of others, and everyone looked into the distance carefully, confirming that it was indeed the sword piece of the flag and the horse seal with the word "benevolence".

"Is this the right man's visit? He came behind us without us noticing!"

The samurai who can participate in the Aoyama Honjin are not low-level samurai, they are more or less important ministers of the Tokugawa family, and they naturally understand what the two flags mean.

Komasa Sakakibara was naturally also anxious, but fortunately he quickly stabilized his emotions, and after carefully examining the situation on the other side, he said to Tokugawa Hidetada, "Young Master, make a quick decision, whether to fight or retreat!"

Hearing the speech of the backbone, Tokugawa Hidetada seemed to have grasped the life-saving straw, and asked him actively: "How can we fight? How can we retreat?"

"Since the Youfu has already lined up in the east, it will naturally not let us go easily. However, the Fengchun Army is different from other daimyo's army. They form a team, ranging from the first four to 500 people, and as many as 800 to [-] people. .

I just roughly counted the formations on the opposite side, and there are only about a dozen formations, which means that the enemy's troops are only 2 at most, and our troops are superior.

Moreover, the number of troops of the Toyoharu Army is not much different from the information we obtained before. The ones who want to go west to Kakegawa should be the constant rangers of Awa Ukita.Because of the lack of troops, it coerced the people to march.

If the young master is determined to fight, he should take advantage of the time when the ranger from the rear has not arrived and fight the Youfu decisively. If he wins, the world will be safe, and His Highness's name will go down in history.

If the young master doesn't have the confidence to win, then he has no choice but to retreat.

But the Youfu army has already lined up in the east, and it is definitely impossible to easily get all over the body.If someone needs to stay behind, His Highness will lead the rest of the soldiers back to Hamamatsu and continue to stand firm. "

Tokugawa Hidetada listened to Sakakibara Komasa's suggestion, swallowed nervously, and glanced at the generals.Everyone understands that if Xiuzhong chooses the second suggestion, then those who stay behind must be close to death.

"Your Highness made a decision that morning. There must be a reason why the Youfu has not ordered an attack. I'm afraid you won't even be able to retreat if it's too late! If Your Highness is concerned about who will be in the army, why don't you let me take on this responsibility."

In the end, Yasumasa Sakakihara took the initiative to ask Ying to serve as the first runner-up. He was the one who suggested it, so he naturally knew the danger.But in order for Tokugawa Hidetada to escape back, he had to come out and stand up.

But Tokugawa Hidetada doesn't think so. Sakakihara Yasunari is no better than other retainers. He is the elder of the Tokugawa family, the most important minister among the important ministers.If other retainers came out to ask for the Empress Dowager, he would agree without saying a word, but now that Sakakibara Komasa asked for the Empress Dowager, he was a little hesitant.

While Tokugawa Hidetada was hesitating, a roar came from the opposite army formation to bring him back to reality, and not long after, the sound of the conch horn sounded outside.

I saw that the Fengchun Army, which was lined up along the coast of the Asahina River, each formed a battalion of 540 people, crossed the Asahina River under the leadership of their respective battalion generals, and marched steadily towards the Tokugawa Army to the west relying on the banks of the Ye Li River.

"No, the right government is attacking!" Seeing the situation at the foot of the mountain, Yasumasa Sakakibara stopped thinking about it for Tokugawa Hidetada, "If you want to keep the army and retreat now, the army's morale will be low and they will collapse at the touch of a button. Sit tight on the front line, as for the You Mansion, leave it to the subordinates to deal with it!"

Right now there is really no better way, Tokugawa Hidetada can only completely hand over the general power to Sakakihara Yasomasa.

After all, Yasumasa Sakakibara was one of Tokugawa's most important ministers, and Ieyasu Tokugawa's right-hand man. He quickly made arrangements and adjusted the deployment of the army.

He divided the entire army into three, leaving 3000 people to Makino Changyasu, and asked him to continue to lead people to monitor the movements in Tanaka Castle; leaving 2000 people to Hoshina Masahiro, who led the people to directly manage the headquarters. The 1200 guards in the front line, once found that the situation is unfavorable, immediately take Tokugawa Hidetada away.

As for himself, he took the remaining 24000 people to take the initiative to meet the enemy. Because the main force of the Xiu family had formed formations on both sides of the Ye Lichuan, he divided the troops into two, and entrusted Ye Lichuan North to Honda Yasushige. 5000 people were assigned to him, and he himself commanded 1.9 people to fight on the south bank.

The battle meeting came to an end hastily, and Yasumasa Sakakihara didn't even have time to make specific details. He could only roughly divide the troops according to the positions where the troops camped and arrayed before, and strive to reach the position as soon as possible to resist the Hideka's offensive.

In order to successfully block Hideo's offensive, Tokugawa Hidetada had to transfer 1000 out of 800 people from the main formation, and Matsudaira Iehiro led the banner general Yasushige Oshima and others to resist the Fengchun army that was invading in the northern part of Haarigawa. Sanada Nobushige's headquarters and Ibaraki Bei bought time for Sakakibara Komasa to make changes in his troops.

These people are the permanent banner of the Tokugawa family, and their combat effectiveness is naturally not comparable to those of the retainers and conscripts.However, the Ibaraki Bei on the opposite side of them is based on Sagami Bei, and the Ueno Bei under the direct command of Sanada Nobushige is the only Yabusame team with an extra 600 horses in Hideka's army.

Are you Yasushige Oshima an elite?My Fengchun army is not a big fish either, a fierce battle started with the needle tip against the wheat awn.

"Bang bang bang~!" Accompanied by the volley of iron cannons, Tokugawa Banner, who lacked the most important means of protection, could only hide behind a few wooden poles and shiver, while the iron cannons were reloading. Sergeant Ueno, who was in contact with the Tokugawa Army, poured the arrows in his hands towards Tokugawa Banner.

The so-called banners are just some professional soldiers, and most of the people in the team are still ashigaru wearing array hats rather than samurai.

Of course, in some wealthy daimyos, these ashigaru are compared with those recruited and armored ashigaru, and their bodies and bodies are relatively much better.

After the Tokugawa family won the world, in order to improve the ruling power of the Tokugawa family, this part of the ashigaru was promoted to the servant class.Of course, not all of them have the status of samurai, and some of them are still outside the samurai, but compared with the earlier civilian ashigaru status, it is much higher.

The banners that can be brought by Tokugawa Hidetada are naturally not vulgar, at least the hats on the head of the ashigaru are no longer simple bamboo or rattan, and are often covered with a layer of iron.

This is the most important defensive method for this kind of ashigaru to deal with surveillance. When you encounter an arrow from the opposite side, you lower your head and leave the rest to God to judge.

On the Toyoharu army's side, Nobushige Sanada saw the unusualness of the opposing army at first glance from the strength of the opposing army. He knew that the opposing army must be an elite one, so he was especially cautious when fighting.

Nobushige Sanada knew very well that the army in front of him was just an appetizer.The Tokugawa Army put them at the forefront just to delay the dispatch of the army.

But Nobushige Sanada didn't want to fight them to the death here, after all, there were still many battles to be fought, and there was no need to smash his teeth on a rock at the beginning.

Of course, Ibaraki Beibei captain Baba Shijia who just came to him from behind didn't think so. He was a standard Kibi samurai and had the status of Hideka's uncle, but he didn't know much in Toyoharu's family.

Right now, his son's horse farmer is no longer serving as a close servant of the Xiu family, and the relationship between the horse farm family and the Xiu family has become estranged. He desperately hopes to use his military exploits to win a future for himself.

"Be careful with the horse's head on the left. The army on the opposite side looks elite. Presumably, it should be Major General Tokugawa's main guard. These people will not always be at the forefront. Why not slow down the offensive and wait for work."

Facing Nobushige Sanada's persuasion, the horse farm staff didn't care.For the standing general in front of him who was from the same Xiu family as his own son, the racecourse staff somewhat looked down on him.

He always believed that Nobushige Sanada had stepped on shit luck and became a daimyo by virtue of his military exploits at Stable Bridge.Their racecourse family dedicatedly served the second-generation patriarch of Yuxi family, and now they are only mixed with the identity of an 8000-shi Dashen banner. Why do you, a brat, command me, an old man who has fought all his life?

The horse farm staff ignored Nobushige Sanada's persuasion, and instead said to him, "In this case, please ask Saemon Satoshi to sweep the formation for me. Huh~ elite? I'm fighting elites!"

Saying that, no matter how persuaded Sanada Nobushige behind him, he threw off the horse and came to his army formation and ordered to his subordinates, "The first battalion will be the main attack, the second battalion will assist from the side, the third battalion will sweep the formation, and the whole army will attack." Tokugawa Army. Whoever kills the general and captures the flag will be rewarded!"

Following his order, Ibaraki Bei completed the transformation in the response of "Roar~!"The total number of 1600 people presents a west-facing character array.The first formation is at the front, advancing 60 steps to the front of the Tokugawa army, setting up the wooden pole in front of the hand, and the iron gunners began to load ammunition behind the wooden pole.

The second formation is located behind the side and rear of the first formation, ready to attack the enemy in front of us at any time.The third team is located behind the first team and behind the second team, so as to support the two teams at any time.

Naturally, there are iron cannons here in Tokugawa Banner, but all the iron cannons here are going to shoot each other with Ueno in the east.As a result, there was not enough long-range firepower to fight back when facing the iron cannon fired from Ibaraki in the northeast.

Hundreds of people need to shoot arrows in two directions to fight back, and the effect of effectively killing them is very small.

On the other hand, the Tokugawa Army, with their numbers already at a disadvantage, had to deal with the long-range firepower from both sides, so they were naturally exhausted.

Matsudaira Tadahiro and Oshima Yasushige always thought that Ueno Bei in the east was the main force to deal with, while Ibaraki Bei in the north was just a harasser.

But who knows that after firing 3 rounds of iron cannons, with the order of Yoshioka Fangtoki, the first battalion of the Ibaraki Bei Battalion, the first battalion of the gun ashigaru, who was originally hiding behind the wood, with the base of a centurion, in Under the leadership of their respective captains, they charged the Tokugawa army.

With a distance of 60 steps, even with the short height and long-term malnourished body of the current Japanese, a charge will not take 20 seconds.

The speed was so fast that it didn't give Oshima Yasushige a chance to think, and Ibaraki Bei had already fought against the flank of the Tokugawa army.

The purpose of the horse racers is very clear, that is to disrupt your Tokugawa Banner's formation.Therefore, after a charge, the Ibaraki First Battalion did not enter the gun quilt, but started a scuffle with the Tokugawa army using a combination of long and short weapons.

At the same time, the second battalion, which was originally behind the first battalion, began to continue to detour to the west, and finally found a position to attack the Tokugawa army.

With the first battalion at the front, the soldiers of the second battalion had enough time to line up and attack the chaotic Tokugawa army with guns.

After all, the Tokugawa army is a well-trained off-duty standing staff. After paying some price and falling into a moment of chaos, they soon fought against the soldiers of Ibaraki Bei under the organization of their respective samurai.

Especially in the frontal battle against the First Battalion, even Xiujia had to admit that in this era, warriors are still the main combat force.

Even if it is the regular stock of the Toyoharu family who is also full-time, those who have become monks on the way out are no match for the professional samurai who have trained Amomum jutsu since childhood. What is uncomfortable is that as the banner of the Tokugawa Honjin, the proportion of samurai in this army is relatively higher.

"Madman!" This is the evaluation given by Sanada Nobushige after seeing Ibaraki Bei fighting with the Tokugawa Army.

He originally wanted to use up enough ammunition to consume the troops of the Tokugawa family, and to save his energy to fight the conscripts who came later.

After all, stocking and recruiting ashigaru heads are both military exploits, and you won't be given extra rewards just because you are difficult to get ready. He really doesn't want to do thankless things.

But now the edge of Chibei Uenobei will be snatched by the "no-name" Ibaraki Bei. This is what Sanada Nobushige does not want to see. See how the hard bones are chewed!"