Prime Minister Bizen

Since the two armies started fighting at sunrise, the two sides have been fighting for an hour. Looking at the sun gradually rising in the sky, Sakakibara Yasumasa behind the Tokugawa army has an extremely dignified expression.

Just now, Tokugawa Hidetada sent someone down to inquire about the situation of the battle. He said that there was another Fengchun army attacking on the flank of the formation. Defense becomes more difficult.

Tokugawa Hidetada asked Sakakihara Komasa about the next tactics, and asked if he could break the formation as soon as possible?If we can't break through the formation, can we send part of our troops to cross Yelichuan to the north to support?
Sakakibara Komasa was very clear about the combat effectiveness of the Toyoharu Army.

Although he had already known about Fengchun Army's combat power, his troops were several times stronger than the opponent's, and even if he couldn't defeat the opponent, he should be able to squeeze the opponent back, right?
However, the fact is that the Tokugawa army relied on wooden 楯 bamboo beams as a support, hiding behind the fortifications and confronting them with guns did not take a step back.

On the contrary, the front army formation on my side showed signs of instability because it had been named by the Fengchun army's iron cannons, and the rear army formation was bombarded by the Fengchun army's large cannon.

At this moment, Sakakibara Komasa no longer has the equanimity to carry out expenditures, and he is even thinking about how to get out of it unscathed.

Before Tokugawa Hidetada came to ask him to send the red reserve team to assist, but Sakakihara Komasa was unwilling.His tactics are different from Naomasa Ii's. The Red Army is the decisive factor in his hands. How can he waste his energy in such useless battles?

"Damn it, why haven't Uchizenmasa (Mori Oka) and Mamoru Kawachi (Shigeta Sakai) moved yet!" After sending off the envoy who came to ask for help, Sakakibara Komasa looked to his side with some dissatisfaction.

At present, the fighting between the two sides has reached a fever pitch. If the remaining hands on the other side of the Inagawa River can exert their strength at this moment, no matter how hard the Fengchun army on the opposite side is, they will not be able to withstand it.

"I let them wait for the opportunity to move, not let them stay still!" Sakakibara Komasa thought a little weakly.

It's just that he didn't know that he was distressed, and the two on the south bank of Inagawa were even more distressed.

What troubled them was that the ranger with hundreds of people was wandering around them.Due to the needs of the frontal battlefield, this passive team did not wait for defensive materials such as wooden poles and bamboo beams. Facing the arrow feathers shot by these rangers, they could only rely on the armor and hats worn by the ashigaru and samurai for passive defense.

Although the Mikawas of the Tokugawa family were the foundation of the Tokugawa family in the past, the composition of the Tokugawa family in this team is much more complicated now.

The earliest Tokugawa samurai had already followed Tokugawa Ieyasu to cede Mikawa to Shinano, Junfu, Izu, Sagami, Kai and other places, helping Tokugawa Ieyasu to master new territories in the Hideyoshi era.

In other words, the foundation of the Mikawas was dug out by Ieyasu Tokugawa himself. Later, daimyos such as Tsutsui, Ikeda, and Mori were filled in here. The daimyos came and went, and every time they were transferred, they would always bring Some newcomers are brought in, and some powers that are not strong in the local area are promoted, but they may not be taken away when they leave.

Among them, the former minister of Tsutsui who ruled Sanhe for more than ten years was the most terrible. The Tsutsui family was originally a famous monk. The transfer from the Yamato Kingdom naturally brought a large number of monks, and the land of Sanhe had a tradition of worshiping Buddha. Over time, many people in the Sanhe area have voted for Buddhism.

Under the rule of the Tsutsui family, although Buddhism and customs were equally important, for the bottom-level ashigaru, it was better to shave and serve as a Buddhist as a soldier than to recruit ashigaru as a general. Over time, there were rumors that Mikawa was full of monks and soldiers.

But do they really have the fighting power of monk soldiers?It's just some people who only know how to recite one Buddha's name all day long.Even because of the support of sesame oil from Buddhist temples, their fighting power is not as good as those of the ordinary people who live in hardships and recruited from the land.

Furthermore, after Tokugawa was transferred, not only the samurai were taken away, but all the weapons left in the local area were also transferred. Afterwards, whether it was Tsutsui, Ikeda or the Mori family, they had to search more when they left, which led to the fact that Tokugawa is now in charge The weapons and armor of the Sanhe people are not even as rich as those of the Yuanjiang country on the edge.

Today's Junyuan Three Three Kingdoms is no longer the time when Sanhe people fought wars, Yuanjiang people farmed the land, and Junfu people sang operas. Instead, it became the appearance of Junfu, Yuanjiang people fighting wars, and Sanhe people farming behind.

Insufficient armor rate makes them easy to be shot and killed by Jurchen rangers' fast bows. The key is that neither Oka Minister Mori nor Sakai Shigeta has a good solution.They improvised some wooden poles and set up a line of defense against the Jurchen cavalry, but they could only be restrained by the arrow feathers and could not move forward.

Okabe Masao Tsuna ordered people to fight back with bows and arrows and iron cannons, but the Jurchen rangers were very clever, except that they suffered a little loss at the beginning and then stayed around a hundred paces and shot them with long bows after a few people died.

This distance exceeds the shooting range of the Tokugawa Iron Cannons, and there are only a few people hiding behind the formation who can shoot at the horses and gallop.

Jurchen rangers seem to have found the fun of hunting, and some people will turn their horses to about 60 paces, shoot several arrows with a short bow quickly, and the arrows will kill people.After shooting these shots, he reined in his horse and walked away without stopping.

On the other hand, for the Sanhe people, this time is not enough time to reload the iron cannon. Because the troops are on the move, it is impossible to let the iron cannon filled with gunpowder and projectiles move forward. In case a spark explodes due to friction This is how to do?
As for the archers, both samurai and ashigaru hold Japanese-style longbows that are taller than humans. This kind of longbow is usually carried on the back, and it is difficult to hold and march.Waiting for Ting Hao to order the ranger to come forward and take the bow from the back, and then take the arrow and bend the bow to aim. The 3~5 short arrows on the opposite side have already been shot back.

If they really want to fight bloody here, it's not that the Sanhe people can't take down these rangers with only light armor, but it's just that the current situation where they can only be beaten passively and cannot fight back is really too aggrieved.

It's not that no one couldn't bear to go out and wanted to fight back, but the best proof was that they fell scattered on the side of the road and were pierced by arrows and turned into hedgehogs.

Minister Okabe couldn't bear it anymore, so he directly sent his brother Masaona Okabe to lead 300 horse-riding warriors from the headquarters to expel them.

Seeing these knights on horseback straddle their horses, the Jurchen cavalry immediately dispersed, finally giving the Sanhe people a breathing space to move on.

But the Jurchen ranger is to play guerrilla with you, riding on the horse and shooting and retreating.On the other hand, the horse-riding samurai of the Tokugawa family only have long-term samurai swords as weapons, and there are few bow-holders, but they are not used to shooting while riding.

Fortunately, these knights on horseback are the elite of the Okabe family, and their clothes are solid and well-equipped. As long as they are not hit in a weak position, even a ranger's bow and arrow inserted into the armor will not kill anyone.

But dragging it down is not a solution. The horses boasted by these cavalry are Shinano horses and Kiso horses. These horses are short and suitable for climbing mountains and mountains, but they are taller, more durable, high speed.

The Jurchen rangers fled in front, and the Tokugawa knights chased after them, but they couldn't touch the corner of the clothes on the opposite side.On the contrary, scattered people were shot by arrows along the way, and dozens of people were reduced, and the Jurchen Rangers who were circled back had their heads picked off.

Masatsuna Okabe, who was in charge of the army, finally discovered the problem. He glanced at the sweaty hands and feet on the left and right, and there were obviously fewer people, and he felt something was wrong.But he didn't dare to play with these rangers anymore, and retreated to his own formation with the participating knights on horseback.

How could the Jurchen Rangers who had been chased all the way let you go so easily? Of course they chased those warriors far away and shot arrows. Some warriors insisted on riding their horses with their back armor full of arrows.

Of course, some were unlucky. The arrow stuck into the weak neck, but fell directly to the horse and was trampled to death by the cavalry behind.

When Okabe Masatsuna returned with the remnants, only 300 of the 207 riders who went out came back.

Fortunately, they delayed the time for the army led by Minister Oka, and finally allowed the Mikawas to move to the same position as the frontal army north of Inagawa.

God knows that Yasumasa Sakakibara urged them several times along the way, and now they are finally given the opportunity to make contributions.

It’s just that the rangers who are still wandering behind Hime on the right side of the house are really annoying. Minister Oka said to the lieutenant on the side, “Kawachi Mamoru (Sakai Shigeta), please take the horse samurai and Yoshida people from the headquarters to expel those annoying people for us.” Ranger."

Sakai Shigetada was also very annoyed by those rangers, so he responded immediately and said: "Further to the east is the mouth of the Asahinagawa River, where the water is deep, I want to see where those annoying bugs can go go."

However, after Yuxijiatai delayed Sanhezhong for an hour, he finally failed to make the trip, so he had to send someone to inform Xiujia about it.

Xiujia also made a mobilization in the main formation, ordering the heavy armored soldiers on standby at the left of the Suga Masori formation to stand facing the south of the river. On the opposite side of Chuanzhi, Gang Minister Sheng Jun returned to his place and continued to harass and shoot.

The military order was quickly issued and carried out, and the left wing of the Xiujia army changed again, and 1200 heavy armor soldiers were transferred to stand facing the river and facing south.

The water in Inagawa was not deep, and it was only half a calf at this time. Although it would slow down the pace of the soldiers, it would not hinder their possibility of crossing the river.

This group of Sanhe people was constantly harassed by rangers along the way, and they were already very tired when they finally reached the side of the battlefield.

Fortunately, with the instigation of the warriors, they knew that they were going to flank the enemy's formation, and as long as they broke the formation, they would be able to get a lot of credit, and the morale that had been sluggish due to the harassment just now improved a little.

When the army came forward to line up, they saw that the other side also had a team of more than a thousand people coming out. Looking at the attire on the other side, it seemed that there was only one piece of thick clothes, but they didn't have any armor on their bodies. It's nothing more than an iron pocket, this is a proper motley crew!
In the eyes of many ashigaru who have fought too many bad battles, this team is nothing compared to their own. If there is anything strange, it is that the opposite side is obviously a miscellaneous conscript. How about uniform clothes?
But they couldn't control these things. After all, the samurai were urging behind them, and the number and sharpness of their troops were higher than those on the opposite side. There was no reason to stop at the south bank of Inagawa.

Not to mention the samurai urging behind, those Sanhe samurai who saw the appearance of the opposite side rushed faster than these ashigaru, fearing that the head would be picked off by the mud legs after the opponent would collapse at the touch of a touch.

But when they got down the river and were still 30 steps away from the opposite side, their pace gradually slowed down due to the stream, but they saw that the "no-name army" who were arrayed on the opposite side actually took out a short gun from behind and raised it towards this side. to throw.

"Can the guns still be thrown?" This was the first reaction of the samurai who walked into Inagawa seeing this scene, followed by short guns thrown uniformly from the opposite side.

These short spears seemed to have been specially treated, and they flew top-heavy and lightly, so fast that they directly pierced the ashigaru who was rushing with his head down, and his heart was chilled.Even the samurai swung one of them away with their long spears, and the other followed behind, passing through with armor on.

These throwing guns are really domineering, even more lethal than heavy rattan bows and iron cannons. For some unarmored and thin armored ashigaru, they wear a string together with the people behind them, and the two fall together. Howling in the river.

The sudden change did frighten the Sanhe people who were charging across the river, but behind them, who had the upper hand, there were still desperate people rushing here, and they were greeted by the second and third rounds of gunfire.

Fortunately, there seemed to be only three rounds of gunfire on the opposite side, and the people who rushed to the front after the cast seemed to be about to cross the Inagawa and go ashore.

"Great job Shin Sagenemon! Take them." The samurai who was still on the south bank saw his fellow countrymen who had already arrived on the other bank speak up, but before he could finish speaking, he saw his colleague fell on his back to the ground, with several sticks stuck in his body. The hatchet saw through the fullness of his chest.

Seeing this scene, the warrior who was still shouting swallowed his saliva in disbelief, and went down the river together under the push of the people behind.

Someone fell down in front of him, turned his head to look at the corpse, his face, neck, and chest were covered with flying ax wounds, and when he was still waiting for him to land, the flying ax on the opposite side seemed to be exhausted, and he followed the front of him stupidly. The elder brother rushed forward with a spear in hand.

But he saw the soldiers on the other side standing on the bank foundation with dignified expressions. The ax that had been inserted into the ground was already in their hands. When he got closer, he realized that the ax was as long as someone climbed up, and the blade was like someone else's. Such a big head.

"Come on!" Before he could react, the other side shouted loudly, and rushed towards him with a long ax in hand.

The samurai is called Nakajima Zabei, and he is a samurai who was recruited with his brother.It was his fellow villager, Kojima Shinzagenemon from the next village, who was killed by the throwing ax in the front.

Unlike his elder brother who has experienced battles, both he and Shinzagenemon were born after the 14th year of Tensho (1586), and today is their first battle.Originally, the two companions encouraged each other to make meritorious deeds for their lord, to win the heads of several Fengchun thieves on the battlefield, and to become leading warriors who were named Zhixing.

But in the blink of an eye, the companion who was chatting with yesterday fell in front of him.

With fear of the unknown and anger at the death of his comrades in battle, Nakajima Zahei tried his best to restrain his emotions and charged forward with a spear in his hand.

But when he got close to him, he found something strange. The face of the person opposite seemed to be different from his own. The key point was that many people had thick curly beards, which were never seen in Japanese.

But before he could react, he heard a scream, but the ashigaru at the front was split in two by a samurai holding a giant axe.

It is a split in two in the true sense, from the top of the chest diagonally, and the other side of the body, directly cutting the person in two horizontally.

You must know that the samurai and the ashigaru who rushed to the front are both elites. The ashigaru who was split into two sides was also wearing a Buddha body, but this layer of wooden and iron Buddha body armor is as flawless as paper. The effect of blocking, even human bones can't delay the axe a bit, the samurai seems to be splitting wood as casually.

The blood splashed on the face of the opposite warrior and stained his beard. With his sallow complexion and white armor, he seemed to be as terrifying as an evil spirit from the region.

"Calm down, a soldier." Seeing his stunned brother take the initiative to come to his side to calm his emotions, he made a battle arrangement, "Sounding on the battlefield is a dead end. I will be in charge of the feint. You can find a chance to assassinate Yu with a long spear." he."

Zuobei Muna nodded, and finally his elder brother took the initiative to fight with the man with a spear in his hand, but he found an opportunity for the spear to get stuck on the ax blade and shouted to Zuobei, "It's now! Kill, Zuobing guard!"

"Ah!!!" Zuobei found the opportunity, plucked up his courage and shouted and rushed towards the warrior, but he only heard a "boom", and the spear pierced the cloth, but he couldn't make any points.

"Eh?!" The two brothers were stupefied, but the warrior had already thrown the throwing ax on his waist at Zuobei.

As the elder brother, Xinbingwei has more experience in the battlefield. After a little stunned, he saw that his brother was in trouble and pushed him away, but he was inserted into his chest from the side by the flying axe.

The recruit who fell on the ground took a few breaths and tried to get up, but the warrior stepped forward and stepped on the ground. At this time, his breath was full of air bubbles, but he was taking in less air and more out. The throwing ax wounded his own lung.

But Zuo Bingwei, who was sitting on the ground beside him, hadn't recovered from the surprise just now, the warrior had already raised the huge ax in his hand and chopped off his brother's head with a "poof".

Zabei only remembered that before the ax fell, his elder brother looked at him because his lungs were damaged and could not speak clearly, but he could guess roughly and said, "Run away ~ Zabei, run away!"

After all, it was only his first battle. After the blood passed, he saw his fellow countrymen die in front of him, and now his elder brother was executed in front of him in an extremely cruel manner. He was somewhat unacceptable.

A moment ago, two relatives and friends who grew up together died one after another, but it was a bit cruel to Zubei who was less than 20 years old.

Then look at the samurai who hung his brother's head on his waist and continued to kill others
Yes, no matter what others say they are unarmored mob soldiers, in the minds of the guards, they are definitely considered elite warriors, and he has unconsciously noticed that their names have also changed.

Looking at the samurai again, he seemed to have no interest in the soldier sitting on the ground. He continued to hack with a big ax in his hand. It was obvious that he was the one attacking, but he was about to be attacked by Feng. Chunjun drove down the river bank instead.

Not only the warrior with the axe, but these warriors kept passing by beside him, but they didn't have the slightest interest in the guard who couldn't even hold a weapon.

It wasn't until the white-armored warriors in front walked around and drove the overwhelmingly superior Tokugawa army off the river bank again that he was discovered by the warriors behind him, and Mu Na was tied up with a rope and thrown casually in the formation. After watching.