Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 842: Battle between East and West (39) Battle of Sekigahara (6)

The total number of 200 people from the Hatamoto clan who followed Chosongga's subordinates accounted for the majority of the total number of Hatamoto clan members in the hands of the Hui family. The Hatamoto general in charge of them at the same age was called Takajo Yinori, a wealthy samurai from the Imperial Palace.

The Toyoharu family's Hatamoto members were selected from Kibi and Kanto samurai who were skilled in bows and horses, but a general who could command a hundred people not only needed to have outstanding abilities, but his background was also very important.

Being able to become a subordinate of the second generation, his abilities and identity are even more important.

For example, Takagi Yinori was the leader of the Shougong when the Hide family invaded Hojo. He was about the same age as the Hide family and had previously served in the Hide family's retainers.

Later, when he got older, he successively held the positions of executive and standing captain. He was a mature and prudent man, which is why the Hide family handed him over to the Hui family.

Nobuchika Chosogabe and others came out from the side of the Mobeishan battlefield where Fukushima Masanori and Saitama Bei were fighting. When they saw someone coming down from Mobeishan in a menacing manner, Fukushima Masanori was frightened.

At first, he thought it was someone coming down the mountain to deal with him, but in the end, the enemy just passed by him and turned to the west.

"My lord, that seems to be the Seven Sorrel family crest. It should be the Chosou Gabe family, right?" Fukushima Masanori's retainer Adachi Yasushige said, pointing to the military force passing by.

"What? Are they the Tosa Rats?" Fukushima Masanori looked in the direction of the retainer's finger, and sure enough he saw the flag of the Choso Gabe family. "Ah~ I'm so angry. What are those Rats going to do? You can't Let them get away."

Fukushima Masanori wanted to pursue the military strength of the Chosogabe family, but at this moment his army was fighting Saitama Bei, and there was no way to spare the troops. He had no choice but to inform Tokugawa Ieyasu in the rear to let him Then send people to stop Chang Zong's army.

The reason why he didn't inform Yamauchi Kazutoyo was because he didn't care about this so-called Jindai at all.

Although he was also born in Owari, Fukushima Masanori's small gang used to nickname Yamauchi Kazutoyo as "squirrel" because Fukushima Masanori felt that he was timid but had many ideas, and he looked like a squirrel.

In fact, before Shidake, the knowledge and conduct of Fukushima Masanori and others were not as good as Yamauchi Kazutoyo. However, after Shigetake, the knowledge and conduct of Fukushima Masanori and others soared like a rocket, and soon surpassed Yamauchi Kazutoyo. This made Fukushima even more Zhengze looked down upon him.

Now Tokugawa Ieyasu said that he would let Yamauchi Kazutyo manage his own operations. With Masanori Fukushima's temper, he would not directly object, but not reporting directly to Tokugawa Ieyasu is a sign of his resistance.

At this moment, Tokugawa Ieyasu's face was not good-looking. He was receiving Kyogoku Kochi, Kyogoku Takaji's envoy. This was the third time Kyogoku Takaji came to ask for help.

"Our army is on the front line to support us, and there is a group of warriors in strange and well-dressed clothes over there in the right house. Ordinary weapons cannot hurt them at all. Moreover, there are big guns in the right house to bombard us from behind, and Hatamoto suffered a lot of losses.

Mr. Naishenmasa (Zhaowu Wunori) has died in the battle. My brother asked me to come in person to seek reinforcements from His Highness. If the reinforcements do not come, the main force of Youfu will enter Sekigahara! "

Hearing Kyogoku Kochi's threats to him, Tokugawa Ieyasu's expression was not good. He immediately asked, "Who didn't act according to the plan? Who asked you to attack the Toyoharu Army that was entering the valley? Tell me now. I can't hold on any longer. Do you think I have any extra military strength in Tianmanshan Mountain that I can give you?

Go back and guard Tango, and tell the attendant that I really have no soldiers to send here, but I also ask him to encourage him to persist. At this moment, we have the upper hand on the south side of the battlefield. As long as the battle on the south side is over, I will send reinforcements to support him immediately. "

Seeing that Tokugawa Ieyasu still did not send reinforcements, Kyogoku Kochi turned his attention to the 4000 Tokugawa banners: "In the inner palace, the daimyo have already moved, shouldn't the Tokugawa family also contribute?"

These 4000 Tokugawa flags were originally Tokugawa Ieyasu's forbidden possessions. They were the capital for him to maintain his authority and voice after the war. How could they be used to fill holes at will?

Now faced with Kyogoku Kochi's blunt request, his face showed dissatisfaction, but after managing his expression, he still pointed at Mobeishan opposite and said: "Did you see the gentian and ginseng pattern over there? ? These 4000 of us must not move unless absolutely necessary. This is the last reserve team to deal with the accident at Taobei Mountain.

Besides, Your Highness Kyogoku has 5 Toyotomi banners in his hands, and the troops in his hands are far more abundant than mine. Your Highness came to tell me that you are going to be unable to withstand it. Aren't you kidding me? "

Tokugawa Ieyasu didn't even ask for reinforcements from Kyogoku Kochi himself, let alone Masanori Fukushima.He directly reported the matter back to Yamauchi Kazuhiro and asked him to deploy military forces to teach the Chosou family a lesson.

The troops in Yamauchi's hands were not abundant, so he finally dispatched 1500 men from Shimazu Yoshihiro to pursue Nobuchika Nagasoga.

However, it was said that Nobuchika and Takagi Yinze of Chozong's army came down from Taobei Mountain with 2200 people. After defeating a small number of enemy troops, they turned south and killed towards the rear of Aoki Kazuki's military formation.

At this moment, Kazuki Aoki was concentrating on dealing with Mori Tamasa's breakout, and did not even realize that an army was coming from behind.

When the visitor approached, the retainer announced that he was coming with the formation flag of the "Seven Sorrel Family Crest". Unknown to him, Nobuyomi Chosoga had betrayed Kazuki Aoki of the Western Army, so he thought it was Tokugawa. Ieyasu sent here to support him.

The result was that he was unprepared and stabbed in the back by Nobuchika Chosougabu. The Chosougabu troops armed with spears directly cut open the military formation of Meinozhong led by Kazuki Aoki.

Many of the Mino people were former retainers of Toyotomi Hideji, including Ohba Tosa, Yasui Kinai and others. They were the Osaka side who surrendered directly after the defeat of Echizen Hideji and were handed over to Aoki Kazuki for integration.

Speaking of integration, Aoki Kazuki was not his name. These people were just the ghosts after Toyotomi Hideji's death, and were thrown out like offal.

Previously, Tokugawa Ieyasu promised them that as long as they relied on their abilities and military exploits, they could gain a place in the new Osaka regime.

But before his dream could set sail, it was shattered by reality.
No one would have thought that the allies who had been drinking and dining together a few days ago would stab themselves in the back at a critical moment in the battle.

"What are you doing? Aren't we allies?" The Mino warrior, whose back was pierced by a spear, looked at the Tosa warrior behind him in disbelief.

He still remembered that face. He was the wolf friend he met a few days ago when we were looking for a wandering girl at the hotel under Ogaki Castle. They even complimented each other on how powerful they were and so on.

The Tosa samurai was stunned for a moment when he saw the man he killed, "I'm sorry, brother, your head will be the ladder for me to advance."

After saying that, he closed his eyes himself, took out his ribs and cut off the head of the samurai. "What's his name? Ohno Yehei?"

Although the number of soldiers in the Chosougabu family was only 2000, which was far less than the 1.6 soldiers under Aoki Kazuki, the impact it caused was very large.

Aoki Kazuki's subordinates are a group of teams that have lost their backbone and have been put together temporarily, and their composition is mostly dominated by Mino's powerful forces.

The characteristic of a strong man is that he is good at fighting favorable conditions, but once a partial defeat occurs, the strong man's habit of preserving himself will lead to a point-by-point defeat.

Just like Maeda Tosunaga came down from Mt. Matsuo and attacked Inaba Norimichi and other Nobi powerhouses just now. These powerhouses had already begun to retreat when they saw the well-organized Maeda army. If Nakagawa Hidemasa and Mori Tamasa hadn't joined forces to suppress it, these two devils would have He had already run away without a trace.

Even so, after facing the Maeda Army's surprise attack, most of the coalition forces collapsed.

They had previously promised the Hide family in the Furuno Castle that they would contribute to the Toyotomi family and work with the Hide family to clear out the troubled officials in the court. However, they dispersed after facing Maeda Toshinaga's thrust.

The entire Ise street to the east was full of defeated soldiers, and there were even daimyo on horseback, running away from the battlefield without looking back.But now, it was the turn of the Western Army to have all this happen. As expected of the Nongwei family, their appearance in fleeing was exactly the same as their compatriots in the Eastern Army.

At first, Aoki Kazuki wanted to maintain the military momentum, but when they heard the high-pitched scream of the blazing arrows fired by the Hatamoto clan, they could no longer hold back their hearts.

Some discerning samurai recognized the Hatamotos from the Hatamotos' costumes and the arrows streaking across the sky, and messages began to spread on the battlefield.

"That's. That's the bannermen of Youfu. Youfu is coming! Youfu is coming! The battlefield on the north side is defeated!"

One pass passed from ten to ten, and even though there were only 200 Hatamoto members on the opposite side, they created the momentum of thousands of troops already attacking, and even helped Chosouga's Nobuchika to easily reach Aoki Kazuki.

This time Aoki Kazuki didn't escape because the thick-tailed crowd was so dispersed that they didn't give him a chance to escape together.

Nobuchika, the leader of Chozong's department, saw Ikki Aoki from a distance. Following the crowd in the middle, he shouted to the other side, "Attendant Aoki, the right government is waiting for you at Taobei Mountain."

Faced with the teasing of Nobuchika, a subordinate of Chosouga, Aoki Kazuki looked solemn and spat, "Bah~ Shameless Tosa thief, have you forgotten His Highness Guan Shiro's kindness to you?"

Nobuchika of the Chosouga tribe ignored Aoki Kazuki's curse on him, and instead said to his left and right, "Whoever captures the attendant for me, I will reward you with a thousand stones."

Don't look at the fact that Chosonggabu Nobuki only offered a reward of 1000 dan, which seems a bit shabby, but for the Chosonggabu family who only has 7 dans, no stone is superfluous. They can give out 1 dan at once. As a bargaining chip for a reward, it is already his greatest sincerity.

Nobuchika, the Chosame's subordinate, was about to break through the thick-tailed men led by Aoki Kazuki. Mori Tamasa, who was in the encirclement, also saw the reinforcements, so naturally he greeted Aoki Kazuki even harder. .

Although that direction was the core area of ​​Sekigahara, and the troops coming to save him were the troops of the Chosougabe family, but at this moment, he could no longer care about so much. Who could escape from the birth control to save him.

The two sides fought for a while in Sekigahara, and when they were about to close together, Mori Tamasa saw a Marujumonji flag behind the Choso Gabe family.

Mori Tadamasa, who hadn't figured out the situation yet, was about to give up the idea of ​​​​survival. He cursed at the Shimazu family who was rushing towards them from the north: "Assholes, even Qiu Hachi of Satsuma came to add insult to injury. I will never let you go in the next life!"

Then something unexpected happened to him.

After receiving the news of the Shimazu family's attack from behind, Chosame Nobuchika hurriedly asked his retainers to detach part of the army to stop them. Unexpectedly, Shimazu Yoshihiro didn't even look at them, and directly bypassed them and headed straight towards the fine soldiers. The Kawa family and Aoki Kazuki rushed towards the intersection of the thick-tailed people.

Shimazu Yoshihiro's performance stunned Nobuchika Nagamune and Tadayama Mori, and frightened other spectators on the battlefield.

There was Nobuki Nobori, Chosoga, who betrayed Shuyu, and now Yoshihiro Shimazu took action against Tadayoshi Hosokawa. At this moment, the Daimyo of the Western Army only kept recalling that famous scene in his mind.

"There is an insider, terminate the transaction."

Shimazu Yoshihiro attacked the junction of the Hosokawa family and Aoki Kazuki's troops, and cooperated with Mori Tamasa and Nagasoga's troops in the encirclement circle, and had surrounded Aoki Kazuki from three sides.

The Nongtails were not a strong force to begin with. Because they still took the initiative on the battlefield, they managed to maintain it under the control of Kazuki Aoki.Now that he was surrounded by counterattacks, he didn't want to stay here for a moment. The remaining thousands of troops no longer ignored Aoki Kazuki's orders and rushed towards the gap in the battlefield that had not yet closed.

As for Kazuki Aoki himself, he really couldn't escape, and was eventually captured by the samurai under Nobuchika Chosoga during the encirclement.

The two families of Mori and Nagasou gathered together, and there was no time to find out why you are my ally. They assigned each other tasks to support Nakagawa Hidemasa and Shimazu Yoshihiro.

Almost at the same moment, there was another commotion on Taobei Mountain. Thousands of horsemen rushed down the hillside from Taobei Mountain. The first ones were the 800 bannermen of the two battalions of the Hide family's banners, followed by more than 1500 Jurchen Qing cavalry. .

The cavalry took advantage of the slope of the mountain and rushed down from Mopei Mountain. Under the horrified eyes of the Terazawa warriors, they rushed into the formation. When the spear in their hand broke, they drew the sword from their waist and slashed. 2000 horses trampled 2000 people. The temple crowd retreated towards Tianman Mountain.

During the Warring States Period, a charge of a hundred cavalry was already very rare, let alone a charge of a thousand cavalry now.

Even 30 years later, the memories of those who witnessed the battlefield were still extremely shocking.

The knights of the Eastern Army all wore black armor and black iron bags on their heads. They were uniformly covered with a layer of white feather fabric bags and tied with white cloth to express their condolences for Zuofu Hideji and their desperate charge.

In order to facilitate the charge, except for a few flag-bearers who held formation flags hanging with the gentian five-seven-tung pattern, all the other warriors removed the cages and flags behind their backs, and dressed in plain colors to attack the Western Army at the foot of the mountain.

The momentum was like a tsunami that hit the unprepared Terazawa people. The Terazawa people collapsed at the first touch. Not to mention those who were hacked to death by spears and swords, there were also hundreds of people who were trampled by flattery.

Hirotada Terasawa, the daimyo of the Terasawa family, turned around and ran away, but was shot down by an arrow from an unknown source and fell off his horse. His life or death was unknown.

The 2000-strong Terazawa crowd almost collapsed at the first touch, leaving no time for the Yamauchi crowd behind them to react.

Yamauchi Kazutyo roared and ordered his soldiers to line up with guns and face the direction of the incoming cavalry. However, the cavalry on horseback came so fast, mingling with the dispersed Terazawa people and killing the Yamauchi people.

In the blink of an eye, Yamauchi Kazuo's dream of becoming a daimyo was shattered by the defeat of the Yamauchi people.

He was carried away by his retainers and fled towards Sasaao Mountain. At this moment, he was not as proud as when he promised Tokugawa Ieyasu at Tenman Mountain.At this moment, he didn't know where he had thrown his helmet, his hair was disheveled and there was a blood mark on his face from an arrow.

Masanori Fukushima was also confused. What was going on? Why did he seem to be surrounded in the blink of an eye? Where had the allied troops on his flanks and rear gone?

However, it was said that after killing Terasawa Hirotaka and Yamauchi Kazutoyo, the Hatamotos did not turn around to deal with Fukushima Masanori, but turned southward.

They were ordered to support the encircled Nakagawa Hidemasa department after breaking through the enemy troops at the foot of the mountain. However, what they didn't know was that at this moment, the crisis between Mori Tadamasa and Nakagawa Hidemasa had been slightly resolved.

In the Mopeishan main formation, the young man who had been sitting on the horse was already standing aside. Sitting among the warriors was a middle-aged samurai with a stern look and seriousness to the point of meticulousness.

The 33-year-old Hideie looks particularly serious with a mustache that is unprecedented in history. The Mopeishan main formation is not as noisy as when the Toyotomi Teruie was in charge. Except for the sounds of fighting in the Nangong Mountain behind and the sound of fighting at the foot of the mountain, the main formation is But no one dared to speak out.

As far as Hideie's eyes could see, he saw a few horses heading towards Tenman Mountain from the crowd of Hatamoto. A faint smile appeared on his face, "Ouchi~ I hope you like the gift I prepared for you."

(End of this chapter)