On August 15, the third year of Tensho (1575), in Nagusa County, Kii Province.
"It's really a hell."
Yu Qiuping held an oil-paper umbrella and stood on a high ground in the heavy rain, looking at the struggling auxiliary soldiers on the winding mountain road.
"Today's baggage is probably not even delivered." Yu Qiuping shook his head helplessly and sighed in a low voice, "The food and grass on the front line are being consumed rapidly every day. If the rain doesn't stop, it will last for at least half a day.
We will withdraw our troops next month."
"Ah, it's all the fault of the Oda Grand Hall's perverse behavior. Now it's so good, it must be punished by God." A voice as crisp as a silver bell sounded from behind, with a hint of schadenfreude in it.
"Suizi, you stupid pig, you really dare to say that." Yu Qiuping was happy when he heard this, and turned to look at Ye Gu Suizi who was following behind him. She had learned some things that a maid should do in the past few days, "It's perverse.
It’s my lord, and it’s your Highness who suffers.”
"Ah, I don't know why. Why didn't everyone just leave if it rained?" She raised her head innocently and asked with a smile, "When it rained heavily in the past, I was still raining.
I'm going to sketch in the valley. There are nearly ten thousand of you, but you don't dare to walk on the mountain road? What kind of men are you?"
"It's more troublesome than you think." Yu Qiuping shook his head again - he found that he shook his head a lot these days, "When it rains, the mountain road immediately becomes muddy and slippery. It's okay to walk alone.
Thousands of people collapsed here, and the road became a mess, a puddle of mud. There was no way to use carts, so we had to rely on auxiliary soldiers to carry the baggage in with poles. Moreover, the heavy rain also caused
The streams in the mountains flooded from time to time, breaking bridges over the streams repeatedly, and it took a long time to repair them despite heavy rains. Not to mention the landslides and small-scale mudslides caused by heavy rains, which were simply disasters that destroyed the mountain roads."
"In this case, why not fight over? I heard from Senior Mori, Ranmaru and Matsuchiyo that His Highness's army should be much stronger than the opponent's?" Haikou raised another question, but this time, Yu Qiupei did not
answer.
Because Yegu Suiko's unintentional name, Guan Mori Kolong's "Senior Mori", made Yu Qiuping suddenly think of the deceased Mori Kacheng - he had always called him Senior Mori before. In a flash,
Memories of countless deceased people flooded into his mind, making Yu Qiuping's sadness momentarily uncontrollable.
If Ryuko is still here... the one holding an umbrella next to him right now is probably that silly girl.
Yu Qiuping's eyes became moist in an instant, with tears already welling up in his eyes. He turned slightly sideways so that Ye Gu Suizi couldn't see his expression, but his small movements were still noticed by the considerate Ye Gu Suizi.
"What's wrong, Your Highness...Are you worried?" She glanced at Yu Qiuping and asked in a low voice with some worry.
"No, I'm fine." Yu Qiuping chuckled, trying hard to expel negative emotions from his mind, "It's difficult to attack now. Due to the heavy rain, the use of iron cannons has been greatly restricted. In addition,
The road is muddy, the mountain road is difficult to travel, and the heavy rain obscures the view, which is very unfriendly to the attacking side. Now blindly attacking the strong city will only bring greater casualties. And the deeper we advance now, the longer the supply line will be.
The greater the pressure. I'm afraid we won't dare to attack until the rain stops. And in order to cover, we
The supply line does not dare to cross the opponent's city and advance directly."
"What about the east? Didn't it mean that there is also an army of His Highness coming from the east?"
"It's not so good over there, after all, it's raining." Yu Qiuping casually rotated the handle of the oil-paper umbrella with his hand, watching the raindrops being thrown out along the umbrella eaves, and replied in a low voice, "Some time ago, Ji
The people of the Kii Kingdom mobilized everyone to be on guard against us, allowing them to advance a long way. However, since the rain, the people of the Kii Kingdom mobilized some of their people back, and it was difficult for them there. It is said that Zhong
The boy Xiu wanted to launch some surprise attack, but he probably failed in vain."
At this moment, a messenger suddenly arrived in the rain. Yu Qiuping took a look and found that it was Naomasa Ii who came.
"Husong, aren't you an ashigaru in Tokiwa Prefecture? Why are you here to deliver the order?" Yu Qiuping asked in surprise, "What happened?"
"No, the messengers who can ride horses in my company have all fallen ill in the past few days, so the company commander sent me here who can ride horses." Ii Naomasa got off his horse, stood up straight and bowed to Yu Qiuping.
He gave a military salute and then said in a low voice, "Your Highness, the 2nd Company of Tsukiwabei failed to receive enough supplies and is expected to run out of food tonight. Please leave the trail and join the main formation."
"Come back to the camp with me. I'll go to Hanbei's place to see where the transport team that is supplying you has gone." Yu Qiuping greeted him and led Naomasa Ii and Honoko Hagaya back together.
On the way, Yu Qiuping suddenly remembered what Naomasa Ii said just now, so he casually asked, "You said that all the order soldiers in your company have fallen ill?"
"Yes, many people have a little cold these days, but it should be fine in a few days." Naomasa Ii replied nonchalantly, and he also sniffed - after working in the rain for days, in fact, he also
I have a little cold.
However, Yu Qiuping never expected that the words he casually mentioned that day would become a nightmare for the Red Leaf Army.
·
A terrible infectious disease struck quietly, causing the Hongye Army, which was already in a difficult situation, to suffer a huge blow.
Due to the continuous rain, many tired soldiers and auxiliary soldiers of the Red Leaf Army caught colds due to being caught in the rain. However, the huge pressure on the supply line made the transportation of fresh vegetables and medicines far less than the food that is the necessities of life. Therefore,
A large number of patients did not receive timely care, and the disease began to spread. In addition, most of the Momiji Army came from places such as Kinki and Ono, and the acclimatization and climate in the Kii area were not suitable, which aggravated the disease. The disease spread quickly.
, but the Hongye Army has never encountered such a situation, so that the number of doctors and medicine reserves are far insufficient to effectively control the spread of the disease.
Yu Qiuping hurriedly sent people back to Hequan, Hanoi, and asked Naoe Tadayei, who was left behind, to collect medicines and recruit doctors to send to the front line. However, it was probably too late. Even if it was late, the Hongye Army's supply line, which was troubled by heavy rain and mountain roads, would not be able to get them to the front line.
The food was sent to the front line together. The Hongye Army faced the embarrassing situation of either dying of illness or starvation.
On August 19, Yu Qiuping inspected the troops again, and the number of sick people was obviously much higher than last time. Although the disease was not serious, the soldiers with colds and fevers obviously needed to rest and could not continue to work——
This is another vicious cycle, further aggravating the logistical pressure.
.The area with the tightest logistics pressure on the front line houses more than 1,000 sick people. They cannot work but need to eat. However, the poor traffic volume on the road in front of them makes it impossible to evacuate the wounded.
In desperation, Yu Qiupei decided to withdraw his troops after consulting Takenaka Shigeharu, Amano Keitoku, Sanada Masayuki and others. He ordered Naoe Tadayei in the rear to start dredging the roads in the rear and stop transporting baggage. At the same time, he sent people
Inform Omaezaki Nakahide and Ikeda Tsuneaki and let them prepare to retreat. Yu Qiuping arranged for people to cut wood and make a large number of stretchers to carry the injured and sick people who could not move back.
At the same time, Yu Qiuping sent people into the mountains and forests on both sides to destroy all the outposts that had been built with great difficulty - otherwise, they would be defensive positions for the Kii people in the next attack.
As the auxiliary brigade began to slowly turn around, the soldiers of the Red Leaves Army also left the foot of Hachimanmae Castle and slowly retreated along the way they came. The people of Kii Province lurking in the mountains and forests cheered upon seeing this, celebrating this hard-won victory.
Victory. They sacrificed the autumn harvest, killed and wounded many brothers, and finally repelled Uaki Momiji, who even Takeda Shingen could not do anything about.
However, these exciting celebrations all came to an abrupt end when three streaks of wolf smoke suddenly rose in the direction of Zahe City in the distance to the south.
·
"What's going on?" Yu Qiuping stared at the three wolf smoke rising in the distance, his eyes full of confusion and puzzlement. After staring intently for a while, he finally realized - that kind of wolf smoke pattern was the Hongye Army's own
Wolf smoke! The message conveyed by the smoke is - "We are attacking the city, asking for support."
"Did our people hit Zahe City? Whose troops? How is it possible?" Yu Qiuping's eyes widened in surprise, and he stood up from his horse on his saddle in disbelief, staring in the direction of Zahe City.
.
"It could be Hosoragi Bei or His Highness Ikeda." Sanada Masayuki made a judgment in a low voice, "According to the last intelligence from the east, they may be very close to there."
"Impossible, unless there is no enemy obstruction, no rain, and there is no time to cross the plains." Yu Qiuping shook his head and whispered, "It must be a strategy of doubting the enemy! That is not the smoke from our own people, but
The people of Kii Kingdom are imitating our smoke to lure us back to the army and plan to ambush us."
"No, Your Highness, it is definitely our own people. Please send someone to support immediately." Takenaka Shigeharu shook his head and said firmly to Yu Qiuping, "Let the cavalry company ignore the combat soldiers and auxiliary soldiers and immediately go south and break through.
The enemy's blockade is heading straight towards Zahe City."
"Hanbei? Are you serious? Why do you think that is a signal from one of our own?" Yu Qiupei couldn't help but become serious when he saw Takenaka Shigeharu's resolute attitude.
"It's just my feeling. There is not much basis. This is a judgment that cannot be verified." Takenaka Shigeharu shook his head, but the look on his face did not waver at all, "I hope that Your Highness will trust my judgment."
"If you don't break up the hybrids, you won't save any heads."
Yu Qiuping was startled when he heard this. After a moment, he smiled and patted Takenaka Shigeharu on the shoulder.
"Although I don't know why, I just know that if I believe in you, everything will be over." Yu Qiuping and Takenaka Shigeharu looked at each other, and then whispered, "I would rather believe in your judgment than believe in myself."
Chapter completed!