"I'm sorry for getting you involved, Mitsuhide." Umei Qiupei directed Tokiwa Bei to adjust his formation and prepared to go north to meet Tokugawa Ieyasu. He bowed his hands to Akechi Mitsuhide very apologetically, "Please Mitsuhide retreat first."
Well, the war is fierce and dangerous."
"What is Momiji talking about?" Akechi Mitsuhide frowned upon hearing this, "Don't you want to fight alongside me?"
"Of course not." Yu Qiuping shook his head repeatedly, fearing that Mitsuhide Akechi would misunderstand, "It's just that I want to reinforce His Highness Tokugawa because His Highness Tokugawa is a good friend of mine that I have known for more than ten years. Out of this friendship, I
We will take huge risks to save him. I'm afraid this is the first time for Mitsuhide and His Highness Tokugawa to meet, so there is no need to take such a big risk."
"Your Highness Tokugawa is our ally, that's enough." Akechi Mitsuhide seemed to be quite dissatisfied with Yu Qiupei's statement. He turned his head angrily and said in a deep voice: "Farewell, Momiji. How will my reserve team act?
, it’s not your turn to take command.”
Looking at Akechi Mitsuhide's back as he left, Yu Qiuping suddenly smiled with some relief.
·
After the whole army had a brief lunch, Umei Qiupei immediately led Tokiwabi to leave the main formation and maneuver towards the north of Chohoji Temple. Mitsuhide Akechi took over Tokiwabi's position and entered the main defense to prevent the resurgent Asai army from attacking them.
The retreat route was cut off. Akechi Mitsuhide only had 800 soldiers in hand, which was no match for Asai's army. Yu Qiupei had to rush on his way and try to get Tokugawa Ieyasu back before Akechi Mitsuhide arrived.
When Yu Qiuping rushed to the Tokugawa family's position, the Tokugawa army was at the end of its rope. With less than 2,000 soldiers, it took nearly two hours for them to arrive at the Asakura family with more than 8,000 soldiers. The Asakura army did not expect it at all.
The Tokugawa army would put up such a tenacious resistance - why did they need to carry four times their own strength for the alliance? However, the straightforward Mikawa samurai did not care so much and resisted desperately. Although the official way on the mountain road
The terrain was narrow and complex, but the Tokugawa army still encountered the Asakura family's outflanking from both wings. In order to cover the rear, Tokugawa Ieyasu had to spread his rear team and reserve team towards the two wings. He had no troops available and was in a panic.
The ground was retreating steadily.
When they saw Oda Nobunaga's horse prints evacuating toward the southwest, the Tokugawa family retainers were in an uproar - they all thought that the Oda army was abandoning its friendly forces and retreating. However, amid the flags surging westward,
The retrograde Maple Bird Horse Seal looked so eye-catching. The Tokugawa Army, which was already on the verge of collapse, instantly gained the courage to hold on.
"Quick, go tell His Majesty Tokugawa to evacuate quickly, and I will stop the Asakura army for him!" Yu Qiuping immediately asked Kobata Jiesheng to personally pass the order, "Let the Tokugawa army move quickly! His Majesty Akechi can't wait too long.
!”
After receiving Amekihei's request, Tokugawa Ieyasu left behind his horse-riding samurai to cut off the rear, while the Ashigaru quickly evacuated back. Upon seeing this, the Asakura army immediately pressed forward with the entire army and wanted to pursue it, but found that Tokiwa Bei followed.
He was killed in a diagonal stab. Asakura Kagehiro had no choice but to order his troops to turn to meet the enemy, and the Tokugawa family took the opportunity to escape.
"Momiji, thank you very much!" After the Tokugawa army broke away from the Asakura family, Tokugawa Ieyasu personally rode his horse to Tokiwabei's position to express his gratitude. "If it hadn't been for Tokiwabei, I would have been dead by now.
ah!"
"Thank you. We have been friends for more than ten years. We should help each other." Yu Qiuping stretched out his hand to him. Tokugawa Ieyasu was stunned for a moment, thinking that Yu Qiuping wanted to shake hands, so he also stretched out a hand.
.Yu Qiuping looked at his somewhat reserved look and couldn't help laughing, then waved and gave him a high-five.
"The territory has grown, and the arrogance is not small." Yu Qiuping teased with a smile, "You don't even want to give high-fives to your good brothers?"
"How could it happen? Momiji is joking." Tokugawa Ieyasu laughed loudly after hearing this, "I just didn't expect that Hongye's territory would become bigger, but he would still be as straightforward as before."
"Okay, don't be polite here and retreat quickly." Yu Qiuping patted Tokugawa Ieyasu on the shoulder, "His Majesty Akechi won't be able to hold on for long."
·
Akechi Mitsuhide has never been good at commanding battle formations. Facing a capable general like Asai Nagamasa, he is naturally difficult to resist. By the time Tokugawa Ieyasu withdrew into Chohoji's main formation, the east gate of the main formation had been breached. Ame Qiupei had no choice but to lead Tokiwa
Bei bypassed the west side of the main formation and walked on the road to Kuchiki Valley. After seeing the evacuation of Tokiwa Bei, Akechi Mitsuhide immediately led his troops to evacuate from the main formation and followed the footsteps of Tokugawa Army and Tokiwa Bei.
.
The Asai Army and the Asakura Army successfully joined forces and pursued them along the retreat route of the Orita Allied Forces. However, on the left side of the west bank of Lake Biwa are hills and mountains that are difficult to pass, and on the right side is the vast Lake Biwa. And this section of Lake Biwa
The height of the land on the west bank from the lake is not small. It is a steep cliff, and it is impossible to wade across it. Therefore, as long as Mitsuhide Akechi controls the narrow road and fights and retreats, the Asai-Asakura coalition will have nothing.
The huge force was of no use.
However, Yu Qiuping was a little worried about Akechi Mitsuhide's preparations for the battle. Akechi Mitsuhide has been engaged in civilian work for many years and only started to command the army in the past three years. It is inevitable to be a little confused when encountering such an occasion. If Akechi Mitsuhide's troops
If it collapsed on this narrow official road, the situation of defeated troops and revolt would happen again. So Yu Qiupei called Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had no command pressure, and the two rode together to Akechi Mitsuhide's formation, intending to help
He directs.
Before leaving, Yu Qiupei handed his sword Chidori to Takenaka Shigeharu, and he commanded Tokiwa Bei on his behalf.
Akechi Mitsuhide is not an arrogant person, on the contrary, he is humble and gentle. If Akihei Ame and Tokugawa Ieyasu came to Shibata Katsuie's main camp and asked to help him command, Shibata Katsuie would definitely be furious and kill them all
But Akechi Mitsuhide didn't have any dissatisfaction and accepted their help very naturally.
Yu Qiupei personally took over the command responsibility from Akechi Mitsuhide, and immediately adjusted the originally somewhat scattered formation into an orderly manner. They looked after each other and covered each other's retreat in sequence. And Tokugawa Ieyasu personally rushed to the front line to report to the commanding generals.
, General Ashigaru gave them face-to-face instructions and asked them to act according to Yu Qiuping's deployment.
·
At this moment, Yu Qiuping and Akechi Mitsuhide were standing on a rock on the edge of a cliff on the west bank of Lake Biwa, looking down at the battle situation. As the terrain became narrower and narrower, the pursuit pressure on Akechi Mitsuhide's troops became smaller and smaller.
The retreat will be successful. When the troops withdraw over this cliff, it will be wise to
Mitsuhide and Yu Qiuping will ride away and retreat to the next high point to continue directing.
"Thank you Momiji and His Highness Tokugawa," Akechi Mitsuhide was quite emotional when he saw this, "When it comes to commanding the battle formation, I am indeed not as good as the two of you!"
"Oh? Mitsuhide? You're not angry with me anymore?" Yu Qiuping asked in surprise when he saw Akechi Mitsuhide's kind tone.
"Why should a man care about the embarrassment of words?" Mitsuhide Akechi laughed when he heard this, but his soft voice destined that his smile would always be an elegant smile, and not as heroic as Oda Nobunaga's. "Momiji also wholeheartedly
Companion, how can I criticize you harshly?"
"Is that so?" Yu Qiuping responded with a smile. Suddenly, he felt the sound of wind in his ears. Before he could react, Akechi Mitsuhide, who was standing on his right, suddenly screamed, and there was a sharp sound of metal collision.
It also sounded beside Yu Qiuping.
Yu Qiuping turned his head to the right blankly, and time seemed to freeze at that moment. A sharp arrow penetrated Akechi Mitsuhide's armor, and he didn't know if it penetrated. The arrow flew so fast and was so powerful.
Big, only an expert archer like Charlie can shoot an arrow with such strength. Looking at the direction of the arrow tail, it is most likely an archer from the Asakura family. That arrow was either aimed at Yu Qiupei or Akechi Mitsuhide. If
The one who was hit by the arrow was Yu Qiuping, and he was probably not spared.
At this moment, Mitsuhide Akechi staggered to the right due to the huge impact of the arrow - and a few steps away on the right was Lake Biwa, which was nearly five or six meters below the cliff!
Yu Qiuping almost instinctively wanted to reach out to pull Akechi Mitsuhide, but he couldn't do it the first time. Akechi Mitsuhide had already taken two steps back, and his body had lost its center of gravity and fell straight to the edge of the cliff! Yu Qiuping was alone.
He rushed over and grabbed Akechi Mitsuhide's wrist. Just as he was trying to pull Akechi Mitsuhide back, he slipped and fell over, rolling down the cliff with Akechi Mitsuhide!
A moment later, Yu Qiuping and Akechi Mitsuhide both fell into the water of Lake Biwa. Yu Qiuping felt a huge impact on his body, which made his cheek hurt. The sound of falling into the water also rang in his ears, and the sound of the cold lake water
The touch also spread throughout the body in an instant. Since he and Akechi Mitsuhide were both wearing heavy gear, and they fell from such a high place, it would take several meters to sink into the water at once. Yu Qiuping did not react at first.
He came over and took a sip of water.
However, as a person with good water skills, Yu Qiuping did not panic. He held his breath and threw away all the equipment on his body, including his boots, which would affect swimming. He even held them with his hands.
He took off the red leaf shawl on his body. However, the familiar touch suddenly reminded him of the time when the girl who didn't know how to work was hiding in the cabin and helping him embroider his birthday gift stitch by stitch. After hesitating for a moment,
He took off his shawl and stuffed it into his arms.
He suddenly performed a breaststroke kick with his legs, and slid his hands in coordination, quickly swimming to the surface of the water. After coughing a few times, he stabilized his breathing, but found that Akechi Mitsuhide had not swam up. So he took a deep breath again, and plunged fiercely.
Chapter completed!