However, a quarter of an hour later.
What Yu Qiupei and Sena Ujitoshi received was not the message of victory from Imagawa Yoshimoto, but the black smoke and faint firelight rising into the sky above Narumi Castle twenty miles away.
Narumi Castle, where Imagawa Yoshimoto is located, was set on fire.
Sena Ujitoshi and Yu Qiupei rushed down from the castle tower almost without a trace, and summoned all the troops to rush to Narumi Castle for rescue. Sena Ujitoshi and Yu Qiupei led more than 10,000 main troops and walked through Okezama to reach Narumi Castle. On the main road, he rushed quickly.
The closer they got to Narumi Castle, the more clearly the fire and smoke on Narumi Castle were visible, and the more they felt chilled. Yu Qiupei and Sena Shitoshi's eyes turned red, and they urged their men to march without hesitation. The fastest, Tokiwa Bei, left behind the rest of his troops and, under the leadership of Yu Qiuping, took the lead and trotted towards Narumi Castle.
At four o'clock in the morning, Yu Qiuping arrived at the abandoned Shanzhao Temple. What he saw in front of him was really shocking.
The castle tower of Narumi Castle was shrouded in raging fire, and the smoke was billowing, making it a bit choking even from such a distance.
On the plain to the east outside Narumi Castle and to the north of the woods, a large number of corpses of the Imagawa Army were lying scattered. The Asahina family, the Miura family, the Matsudaira family, the Ii family...the flags of each family were scattered in the pool of blood. They were even vaguely visible. The screams of the wounded who luckily survived. Here, a tragic battle must have broken out not long ago.
The result of the war is also obvious-the Imagawa family was defeated miserably.
how so.
How did the Oda Army, which was already defeated and at the end of its rope, defeat the Imagawa Army, which had many times the number of soldiers and was replenishing its strength and waiting for work!
How could this happen? Even if we lost, why was it so miserably defeated? Why was it like a great rout? How could this be possible? And why could we hardly see many bodies of the Oda family? What were our army doing?
Even if the field battle was lost, the number of troops of the Okabe family in Narumi Castle was still greater than that of the Oda family? How could Narumi Castle be lost? Even if it couldn't be defeated, how could it not be possible for half a day? How could it be possible? How could the castle tower be possible? It was captured so quickly!
The series of question marks and the tragic situation in front of him almost made Yu Qiuping faint. He held on and staggered on the horse, trying to stay rational and calm, but in vain.
There is only one thought left in my mind——
Your Highness, the Governor! Where are you? Nothing will happen to you!
Suddenly, a hoarse roar came from the south.
"Maple Bird Flag! Red Leaf Soldier! Boy! It's really you!"
"Brother!" Yu Qiuping took a closer look and saw that Asahina Taehyung's legs were covered in blood, and the white horse was also dyed red with blood. The dozen knights following him were also in the same miserable state. They were retreating from the forest to the south. They circled out and hurried towards Ame Qiupei's army. At this time, Sena Toshiya rode his horse and rushed to the battlefield with Hatamoto. He was also dumbfounded and at a loss because of the tragic situation in front of him.
"My dear nephew, why do you bring so many people with you? Where is your brother?" Sena Shitoshi asked anxiously.
"Uncle, I came here to investigate! Our Asahina family is at Nakajima Village!" Asahina Taiheng said with a sad face, "I thought that more than 10,000 of you were killed by Oda Nobunaga in Okehazama! I'm scared! It kills me! It turns out you are all fine!" As he said that, Asahina Taehyung suddenly froze and asked in surprise: "You are fine! Why did you let Oda Nobunaga back! Even if Oda was not captured Nobunaga, why didn’t you pursue me? What’s going on!”
"We...!" Yu Qiuping was about to speak, but suddenly he realized something was wrong, "Didn't His Highness the Family Governor order us to retreat and not pursue the Oda army? Aren't you with His Highness the Family Governor?"
"No, our Asahina family has been outside the city, and His Highness the Governor is in Narumi Castle!" Asahina Taiheng was also confused, and shouted anxiously: "Why did I order you to let the Oda family run away!"
"How do I know? We are also confused!" Yu Qiuping was also very anxious and said loudly.
"This is not the key. You two should calm down, my dear nephew!" Sena Shijun interrupted in a deep voice: "Tell me quickly! What is going on here! What happened! Where is the Governor of the House!"
"His Royal Highness the Governor has lost contact with us!" Asahina Taihyung's first words made Yu Qiuping almost faint. He couldn't think of anything in his mind and just kept buzzing.
Asahina Taehyung's voice kept coming to his ears, but Yu Qiuping could only listen dully, as his ears seemed to have lost connection with his brain. When the sound reached his ears, it took him a long time to react before he knew what those syllables meant.
"About two hours ago, the Oda army suddenly ran back from Okehazama. Not many people died, and there were no pursuers of yours behind." Asahina Taehyung, a reckless young man who has always been fearless, at this moment
His voice couldn't stop trembling: "At that time, we were just like those wealthy families. The whole army was panicked. They all thought that Ozazama's team had suffered a heavy setback. My brother tried his best to suppress the troops and maintain stable morale, but he himself was also panicked.
It doesn’t work. Fortunately, there are many of us, and the wealthy families are not so afraid.”
"But, just before the two armies formed their formations and started the battle." Asahina Taehyung's eyes turned red and he cursed through gritted teeth: "Owari's grandsons suddenly picked out the heads and court uniforms of the Kagemusha in the House Governor's Hall.
, picked on the tip of a spear! Displayed in front of the two armies!"
"Damn it! My eldest brother reacted immediately!" Asahina Taehyung cursed fiercely, almost speaking a few words from his back teeth: "Only us, senior samurai from the families of important ministers who are trusted by the main hall, can
We know that the Chief of the Family is in Narumi City! Everyone else thought that the Chief of the Family was in Ozama! Previously in Narumi City, the Chief of the Family sent someone to send a message, asking us to keep it secret and not to expose our whereabouts. So except for Oka
Several members of the Asahina family, all the other family heads, ministers, samurai, and ashigaru all thought that the family governor's main hall was in Okehazama! They didn't know that only the Kagemusha were in Okehazama!"
Yu Qiuping felt a tightness in his chest and a fishy-sweet taste in his throat. Before he could react, a mouthful of blood dripped from his mouth and dripped on Pipa's pure white mane.
How could I... forget this! All the plans I made before were made from my perspective! Most of the people in the army didn't know that Kagemusha went to die for him! They didn't know that Imagawa Yoshimoto was still fine
I have to stay in Narumi City! Why did I forget to ask the family governor’s hall to reveal his identity in advance?
What happens next... there is no suspense.
Blood trickled out one after another, mixed with Yu Qiuping's constant tears, and fell on Pipa's back.
"Damn it! My eldest brother hurriedly sent someone to tell our troops that that one is the Kagemusha! The family governor's palace is still in Narumi City! Although our troops are stabilized, when people from other wealthy families saw the head, they
There was chaos all of a sudden, and the whole army was in chaos! Everyone thought that the governor's palace had been taken, and all the ten thousand troops in Okehazama were wiped out! Everyone didn't know what they were doing, and it was a mess! " Asahina Tai
As Heng was talking, he even cried out in anger: "The Oda family attacked immediately. Our morale collapsed and we were retreating steadily!"
"Originally, with the large number of people, everything could be saved, but who would have thought, but! Damn it!" Asahina Taehyung spat fiercely on the ground, "That grandson of Okabe Motobu, seeing that the situation was not good,
Without saying a word, he set fire to the castle tower and fled with his men through the south gate of Narumi Castle! Several hundred soldiers of the Oda family outside the north gate immediately rushed into Narumi Castle."
"What are you talking about, my dear nephew? Your Highness Okabe burned the Narumi Castle Castle, then abandoned the city and ran away!" Sena Ujitoshi almost shouted out in disbelief, "How is that possible! His Highness Okabe should be the successor to Okabe Young Master.
The young master has learned all the plans! How could he abandon the city and run away when he knew it was a Kagemusha who died! Let alone burn down the castle tower!"
"According to His Highness Okabe's temperament, even if His Highness the Governor is really killed, he will definitely hold on to the city in exchange for His Highness the Governor's head!" Yu Qiuping roared loudly, and blood poured out of his mouth more and more violently.
"I don't even know what he was thinking!" Taehyung Asahina shouted to the sky, "As soon as he ran away, the whole army immediately fell into chaos and was completely in chaos! There is no cure!"
"The eldest brother wanted to send messengers to inform other families of the truth, but because the army was in chaos, the family heads could not be found at all. The Jingyi family ran south with the troops without saying a word. As soon as he ran,
The whole formation immediately collapsed! Everyone in the army thought that the governor's palace was dead, the whole team was wiped out, and His Highness Okabe even ran away. No one turned around to resist, and they all ran away desperately! There were more than 8,000 people.
, they all collapsed before they even fought! The ones who ran quickly around Narumi Castle and escaped southward, while the others could only crowd into a group outside the woods, trying to squeeze into the woods. They were caught up by the Oda family,
Many people were hacked to death! No one from the Oda family was left alive, and even those who surrendered were killed with one sword!"
Although he had known that the result would be like this, when he heard this with his own ears, Yu Qiuping still felt a twinge of pain in his heart.
It was all my mistake, all my miscalculation! If we could have disobeyed orders and continued the attack, if I could have thought earlier that the Oda family might use Kagemusha's heads to plot against our own troops, if I could have let the Asahina and Okabe families earlier
Revealing the whereabouts of His Highness the Governor...
Everything won't be like this anymore.
"Our Asahina family's troops happened to be in the center of the military formation. They suffered a lot of losses. They were dragged away by the defeated troops and evacuated to the south. They were unable to return to Narumi Castle and look for the family governor's hall." Asahina Taiheng shook his head and said, "The Oda family chased after them.
After a while, they left, and all the troops entered Narumi City. We were very weak, with only more than 2,000 people left, so we had to stay here in Zhongdao Village. We happened to meet you."
After Asahina Taehyung stopped talking, the scene suddenly became very quiet. No one spoke and no one knew what to say.
Since the Imagawa family got married, it has suffered an unprecedented fiasco. Decades of accumulation have been in vain, and the dream of going to Luo has been wiped out.
Sena Shitoshi, who had been thinking for a long time, slowly spoke.
"It seems that the House Governor's Palace may have followed His Highness Okabe to evacuate." Sena Shitoshi said in a low voice, "The Palace Governor may have felt that after falling into the "false rumors" scheme, the situation was beyond control and the army would definitely attack Collapse, Narumi Castle cannot be defended. Instead of giving it to the Oda family, it is better to burn it with fire. Then evacuate with His Highness Okabe." Sena Ujitoshi analyzed: "And most of the people killed by the Oda family were It is the ashigaru of the gaibei daimyo. This can take the opportunity to weaken the strength of the gaibao daimyo, thereby strengthening the control of the main family."
"Uncle is right, I guess that's the case." Asahina Taehyung nodded and agreed, "How about we ask uncle to lead the army to Nakajima Village first, join us, and then discuss it?"
"Then hurry up." Sena Shitoshi sighed, and took one last look at the corpses scattered on the battlefield. "After the whole army is reorganized, we can collect the bones."
However, as soon as the army arrived at the outskirts of Nakajima Village, and Asahina Taito came out of the village to greet them in person, he saw several messengers on horseback running quickly from the southwest. Looking at the flags, they seemed to be members of the Okabe family.
Before Asahina Taito and Sena Ujitoshi could send someone to inquire, the messengers on horseback roared loudly from a distance.
"Your Highness Asahina! Is the Governor's Hall here with you?"
Chapter completed!