Prime Minister Bizen

The battle on the north bank of Ye Lichuan was the first to start. The Tokugawa elite banner, who had high hopes, did succeed in delaying the progress of the Fengchun Army, but they also paid corresponding casualties.

By the time Sakakibara Komasa finished the military discussion and Honda Yasushige led people to the north bank to support, the Hatakemoto crowd was already on the verge of defeat.

The original order they received was to replace the banner crowd, but in this situation, the banner crowd has been surrounded by the two backup teams of the Toyoharu family, and it is absolutely impossible to withdraw. What Honda Yasushige can do is to bring people to support , re-top in the back and organize them to move forward.

It was said before that Yasumasa Sakakihara had no time to subdivide the troops at all, and could only allocate them at will according to the distance of the stationed positions at that time.Yasushige Honda was lucky, the army under his command mainly consisted of the Suruga people and the Enjiang people.

These two corps are not much stronger than other corps in terms of combat effectiveness, the main reason is that they are fighting locally and have a strong will to fight.Moreover, they have served the Tokugawa family for many years, and they have a high degree of recognition of the Tokugawa family.

Unlike the nationals of Shinano and Kai, because the territory has been divided many times, more or less relatives are divided into two camps, coupled with the expedition of labor teachers, the will to fight is definitely not strong.

"Sozaemon (Asahina Yasakatsu), didn't you keep saying that you would teach the Toyoharu Army a lesson, and bring your Xinguo Temple members to support Hatakemoto and Mr. Matsudaira Tadakami."

Yes, the soldiers led by Asahina Yasakatsu were called the Xingguoji Temple, because these soldiers were recruited from the vicinity of Suruga Xinguoji Castle, but they were not stationed at Xingguoji Castle, which was also an arrangement of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Just like Torii Motochu who is stationed at Izuntou Castle, he is the lord of Xinfu Castle in Kai Kingdom, and Naito Nobushiro, the guard of Xingguoji Castle, is the lord of Ueno Castle in Kai Kingdom.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's arrangement must be based on his deep intentions. It is impossible not to go all out for such a national war.Tokugawa Ieyasu doesn't have to worry about the loyalty of these important ministers, but he has to worry about whether the soldiers have the heart to regard death as home.

If the locals are left to garrison the city, once the situation is unfavorable, it is very likely that the guards will be forced to open the city under the pressure of the people below.

Of course, Yasakatsu Asahina, who is now the leader of the Xingguo Temple under Honda Yasushige, is also the lord of Xingguoji Castle. The lord here is Ina Chuji, who is following Tokugawa Ieyasu at the moment.

Of course, the lord of Xingguoji City is Ina Chuji, but it doesn't mean that the surrounding land is his.Tokugawa Ieyasu has a fondness for rewards. He likes to deliberately divide the land into fragments, which is conducive to allowing the retainers to supervise each other, or to use the contradictions between them to check and balance each other.

The members of the Xingguo Temple that Honda Yasushige is talking about now are the banners recruited by the Tokugawa directly under the direct control, and Asahina Yasakatsu is only a Daishen Banner who is in charge of leading them, and the army under his command is only more than 600 people.

Although it is only a big banner, Asahina Yasakatsu's father is Asahina Yasachi, the general who went to Luo with Imagawa Yoshimoto and finally lost his soul, and he himself was born as a real servant of the Imagawa clan. Art of war education, there is still a hand in fighting.

After the demise of the Imagawa clan, he served under Takeda, and after the demise of Takeda, his final territory from Tokugawa became smaller and smaller. Today, he only retains the territory of 6 villages around Xingguo Temple with no more than 2500 shi.

Having received the order from the boss above, Asahina Yasakatsu did not dare to be sloppy, and immediately rushed forward with his banner team to support his colleagues.

Although I don't belong to the standing guard banner, I can't compare with the elite colleagues who are fighting in the front now, but at least it is from the orthodox army at the front of the Tokugawa military service account, not those farmers and soldiers who temporarily put down their hoes. This is also Honda Yasushi Reasons to rank them up again.

But when Asahina Taikatsu led people up to support him, he realized that the situation was different from what he had imagined. The fighting power of the Toyoharu Army on the opposite side was far beyond his imagination.In particular, the Red Army Corps in front of us, the lowest equipment of the warriors is the barrel armor of the southern Sichuan barbarians.

It is the kind of second-class Nanban carcass that is not stamped from a whole piece of steel plate, but is stamped separately from 4 to 5 large armor pieces, and then connected by rivets.Even if this kind of armor is as wealthy as the Tokugawa clan, it is the weapon that many samurai can only equip if they lose their fortunes.

As for the ashigaru, it is actually all pieces of small Zha Ling seam or piece of small Zha sewing extension, which is a piece of armor that is tied together in different ways. This kind of armor is on the body of many famous samurai It's still the main armor, but when you come to Fengchun's house, you actually become the standard ashigaru?
There are also the crimson red uniformly printed and dyed armors of the ashigaru and samurai, the red guns in the hands of the soldiers, the knives at the waist, the longbows on the back and a small cross-axe or round hammer. This is armed to the teeth!
Asahina Yasakatsu used to be the minister of Imagawa and Takeda, so he had seen the red team of the Takeda family, and when he saw the equipment on the opposite side, he felt his scalp tingle.

Especially the vermilion spears in their hands. You must know that the printing and dyeing conditions in this era were very poor, and it was difficult to obtain natural pigments, among which vermilion and indigo were the most difficult to obtain (there was no purple in Japan at this time).

If the spear can be dyed red with vermilion, this spear must not be counterfeit, otherwise it would be a waste of such an expensive dye, which is why the vermilion spear has always been sent as a high-end gift in the warriors.

But the army in front of me actually sat down with almost one shot in each hand. At a glance, there were thousands of stalks. The whole red gun barrel combined with the vermilion armor color gave people a great visual impact.

If it is said that after Toyotomi Hideyoshi completed the military deployment, many samurai and ashigaru basically had no chance to go to the battlefield in the next few decades, then this red team was brought to North Korea by Hideo from the Northeast, and It was brought from North Korea to Jurchen, and finally to Ezo, and now it is brought here.

While other samurai had enjoyed ten years of peace and their martial arts gradually became rusty, their army was fighting in the battlefield, constantly honing their fighting skills.

Although there were constant casualties during the process, and some people were taken away to supplement the other reserve teams, but the backbone of this reserve team was still there, and this time it was still handed over to Nobushige Sanada who formed them. imagined fighting power.

Yasushige Honda's idea is very simple, since the Tokugawa Banner can't be rescued, then make the best use of it, and add another 600 people to allow time for his transformation.

But the Tokugawa Banner at this time could not be compared with the Hideka's standing equipment. At best, it was similar to the definition of defense in the Hideka's army, and because of the lack of training in the past, the combat effectiveness may not be as good as the defense of the Toyoharu family.

Of course, the 600 people from the Tokugawa Army couldn't escape the eyes of Nobushige Sanada. Not to mention that behind him was the Saitama Defense Division 1, which is known as the closest to the standing combat power, as a supplement. But there are still 2 infantry battalions that haven't been put into battle yet.

Nobushige Sanada's vision is very good. He naturally saw the main force of the Tokugawa army who was in a hurry to change after the 600-man team. With his character, he would not easily make things easier for the opponent. The captain of the two cavalry regiments in Ueno said, "Go along Haari River to stop the formation of the Tokugawa army, and further suppress their retreat."

The two captains glanced and responded, "The battlefield is not wide enough, and the gap is close to the river bank."

"Then let me lead people to rush over and crush the tail of the Tokugawa army in front of me." Sanada Nobushige said unquestionably, "Let Shirakura Shigegao and Nagao Kencho lead people to follow the cavalry to attack the Tokugawa rear The main force, this small unit in front of you is in charge of the Saitama Defense Division 1!"

The short soldiers standing around Sanada Nobushige quickly ran to their respective battalion generals and quickly issued his orders.Soon, except for the first battalion which was still cooperating with Ibaraki to strangle Tokugawa Banner, the other battalions and cavalry team were mobilized, and the entire north bank of Yelichuan became the most lively battlefield at the moment.

Yasumasa Sakakihara reacted quickly, but he must have limitations when issuing military orders.

He can only use the military array to distinguish the number of soldiers of the Fengchun Army to allocate the troops on his side.

In his knowledge, there were only three troops of the Fengchun family on the north bank of Ye Lichuan, and the number of them could not exceed 3. Therefore, only 5000 soldiers led by Honda Yasushige were sent to deal with it when setting up. Thinking of adding the banner of this formation, there will be no loss here.

But he couldn't see the 4800 men of the new Fifth Formation lying in ambush in the north.In fact, when Ukita Zongsheng led people to arrive, he was a little bit bloody.

One reason is that the width of the battlefield is not enough. The fifth formation on the small Yeri River North Bank-Asahina River West Bank battlefield has gathered 1 people. At this time, the iron cannons are completely useless. It's the red-eyed people who are fighting hand-to-hand.

Secondly, it is because the battlefield is not wide enough.According to Hideka's earliest plan, the two standing reserves of Ibaraki and Ueno will fight from east to west, and the north side will be handed over to Ukita Zongsheng's three reserve teams.

But now because the battle is in a state of anxiety, Ibaraki Bei has already joined forces with the opposite side to strangle, directly blocking the place where the fifth formation enters the battlefield. Seeing that the friendly troops in front are fighting for victory, he can only stare behind him. How could you make Yuxita Zongsheng feel better.

At the same time, on the south bank of Ye Lichuan, the battle had already begun.

Unlike the north side, which invested tens of thousands of people to attack from both sides, the Fengchun army's actions on the south bank of the Yeli River stopped when Suga Masatoshi lined up 600 meters on the west bank of the Asahina River.It's not that they don't want to advance, but because the number of Tokugawa troops oncoming is really too terrifying.

Only Masatoshi Suga's fourth team of 5600 people is responsible for the main defense here, and the mobile team sent by He Xiujia to assist in the defense. The total strength does not exceed 9000 people, but they have to face 1.9 Tokugawa soldiers. .

Facing the flood of enemies, the Xiu family had no choice but to stop their advance, in order to keep their army formation under the cover of their own artillery fire.

The design distance of the artillery of this era is not far. Even the longest range of the Spanish long-barreled bronze cannon is only 2500 meters, and the design distance of most artillery is only about a thousand meters.

Xiujia’s main equipment is the 6-pound gun, and its main design distance is 600-800 meters. In order not to hit its own people, Xiujia had no choice but to order people to prepare in advance after being here. Good sandbags and wooden boards were used to pile up forts, and dozens of 2-meter-high forts were piled up on the east bank of Asahina River.

Experiments have been done before, and the direct shooting at this height can stabilize the range of more than 800 meters, which is why Masatoshi Suga never stepped forward at this position.

The Shinano people under the command of the Tokugawa Army were in charge of the first wave of offensive, and the Sakai family was in charge of ruling them.His father was instigated by Xiu's family and had to commit suicide in order to prove his innocence.

One thousand words and ten thousand are the old ministers of the Tokugawa family. After his death, although the Sakai family was still transferred out of the front line of Sagami, Tokugawa Ieyasu still gave him good treatment.The Sakai family was sealed off to Suganuma Castle in the central part of Minami Shinano for the first time, and was still allowed to own a territory of 2.4 shi.

So Sakai's family didn't hate Tokugawa Ieyasu, but hated Hideka who made Sakai's Chuji distrusted and had to commit suicide.

This time he was ordered to come to Junfu for support, and the Suganuma people under his leadership brought a total of 1200 people.

And when he was brought under the leadership of Yasumasa Sakakibara, he immediately challenged this friend who grew up with him.Sakakihara Komasa recognized Sakai's psychology and agreed to his request to be the first team.

But since 2.4 people have mobilized 1200 people, the quality of the soldiers can be imagined.You must know that even Yu Xiduo's family has 5 shi of Anfang, but the Anfang he brought with him is only 1000 people.

In fact, Tadashi Sakai and Komasa Sakakibara knew the role of Suganuma, and they went to serve as cannon fodder to test the density of Toyoharu's long-range firepower.

Regarding this point, Masatoshi Suga knew it well when he saw that the thousands of people rushing over from the opposite side were not even fully equipped, and even had a long gun modified with a sickle in their hands.

As far as this army is in front of me, I don’t know how many years I haven’t seen it. What is the difference between it and the Yikui army?
So Suga Masari whispered a few words to the retainers beside him, and asked him to go to the back and inform the Hide family not to fire, so as not to expose the firepower prematurely.

Even for the miscellaneous fish in front of him, he didn't even have the thought of firing the iron cannon.He only heard him ordering to the left and right, "Every battalion in Chang Lubei will not move in formation. Each team will bend their bows and set arrows. When the enemy reaches 80 steps, they will shoot 5 quick shots!"

As a regular item of the Xiu family, archery training is a daily compulsory item. This is a rule that has been brought to Kanto since Jibei.When the seal was first transferred, the number of bows and bowstrings was not enough, but after more than ten years of development and the rich products of Ezo, the standing armies were finally equipped with sufficient longbows.

In fact, the standard range of the longbow is 150 steps, but Masatoshi Suga deliberately shortened it by half because he didn't want to expose his firepower prematurely, and hid the longbow as an ordinary Marugi bow.

Naturally, the Sakai family and the thousands of Suganuma people didn't know about all this, but looking at the army on the opposite side and comparing it with the sparsely charging formation on their own side, it is natural to make a judgment.

The soldiers of the Fengchun Army all had their own smiles, while the Suganuma soldiers were driven by the samurai to bow their heads and rush forward with apprehension.

Finally, following the "release" command from the opposite side, and the sound of the arrow feathers of "Sau Hau Soo" taking off, the Suganuma people raised their heads in confusion.Arrow feathers with at most 1000 rounds are not enough to block out the sky and the sun, but the lethality is still huge for the Suganuma people who lack armor and protection.

Although the samurai were desperately shouting "lower your head and guard against arrows", there were still unreasonable ashigaru who looked up at the sky, and were finally shot to death by the arrow feathers that fell from the sky.

But bowing your head doesn't mean everything will be fine, the protective power of bamboo hats and rattan hats is there.Bow your head may be able to prevent certain arrow feathers, the hat on the head of the arrow stick is all over, but there are still fish that slip through the net and shoot into the body and limbs of the person from the gap between the hat and the hat, and finally the person falls to the ground He was killed by the second and third waves of arrow feathers.

After 5 rounds of arrow feather shooting, all the people in Suganuma fell down before they even came into contact with the Fengchun Army. Half of the original 1200-strong army fell down. Some people were shot into hedgehogs and completely lost their breath.

The remaining 600 or so people were originally in contact with the front line of the Fengchun Army with their enthusiasm, but the Fengchun Army lined up in the east did not give them a chance to get close at all.

Seeing that the remnant soldiers were about to approach, following several orders from the commander in the formation, several warriors holding red spears jumped out from the formation, rushed towards the Suganuma crowd in the opposite direction, and fought with the remnant soldiers.

There were only a few dozen people in this group, but the Suganuma people who were able to kill 20 steps in front of the army could not move forward half a step, which greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers in the fourth formation.

In fact, when the blood of the people in Suganuma faded, looking at the red-eyed Xuanjia warriors beside them, and the forest of spears in front, accompanied by the wailing of their companions behind them, some people could not control themselves and backed away.

Faced with this situation, the Sakai family had no choice but to order their subordinates to withdraw their troops.