Under the leadership of Nishina Shigenobu, the Takeda Army on the central front once again launched a general attack on the Red Leaf Army's fortress. At the same time, on the southern front, the Hojo Army was still unable to continue the attack due to low morale. The Hojo Clan and others The front-line commanders were helpless with the Red Leaf Army's bastion, and one after another sent orders to the commander-in-chief Hojo Tsunari requesting further instructions.
After observing the occupation all morning, Hojo Tsunari had already formed a judgment in his mind——
"The combination of this kind of rock fortress and this kind of firepower is definitely not something we can conquer in a short period of time using conventional methods..." Hojo Tsunari stroked the stubble on his chin with a gloomy face and whispered to himself. He said, "If you want to capture such a rock stronghold, you must either choose a long-term siege, use a large caliber barrel to blow down the wall, or use earth dragon attack, fire attack, water attack and other side methods."
However, the current conditions did not give the Kwantung Allied Forces the opportunity to use other siege methods. They had to defeat the Hongye Army before the 40,000 people under Shibata Katsuie's army arrived at the battlefield in a roundabout way, otherwise they would not be able to escape the fate of destruction.
"This frontal defense is like an iron wall. I'm afraid we won't be able to break it down without 30,000 people dying..." Hojo Tsunari raised his head again and looked at the daunting formulas with a river of blood underneath them, murmuring. He sighed. His eyes were attracted by the blood of his sons. He watched some of the blood seep into the ditch, while others slowly flowed along the terrain towards the gap between the Hongye Army's rock strongholds - there were a large number of people standing there. The spearman of the Red Leaf Army.
"Perhaps we can go around to the back and attack these rock strongholds?" Hojo Tsusunari had an idea and had another idea in his mind, "Although the front of this defense line is indestructible, each Hongye Arms Corps has three large barrels, 450 of them. It seems that the iron cannons are all placed in the front. In other words, if we can go around to the rear and attack, we might be able to break through the weak point."
However, the Red Leaf Army had obviously considered the danger in the rear when deploying fortifications, so they stretched the defensive position long enough. The southernmost and northernmost rock villages were close to the tidal flats of the Saikawa River and the Chikuma River, allowing the attacking side to It is difficult for the army to bypass easily.
"It turns out that I have thought about it a long time ago. As expected of the 'defense expert'." Hojo Tsunari sighed, turned around and gave the order, "Send the order, let Uji-saki, Uji-ki immediately leave the battle line and cross southward. Qianquchuan, then march eastward and detour behind Hongye Army's defense line, then cross northward, and attack us from both front and back!"
·
After Hojo Tsunari's order was issued, Hojo Uteru and Hojo Ukiki immediately led the troops who had been listless in the siege battle on the front line to quickly evacuate, and came to the shallower and slower place along the Chikuma River to start crossing the river. However, after the Hojo family made the move to cross the river, Hojo Tsusunari immediately saw smoke and dust rising behind the red leaf army's rock stronghold, and it was obvious that troops were mobilizing. After a while, Hojo Tsusunari saw the moving reserve force—— The cavalry of the Hongye Army was prepared with copper walls. They quickly crossed the Chikuma River southward on the pontoon bridge that the Hongye Army had built long ago.
Seeing this, the soldiers of the Hojo family who were crossing the river were suddenly frightened. The cavalry reserve in front of them destroyed Takeda Akabi and captured Uesugi Kenshin's strong army. If they were half-crossed by this reserve, As for the soldiers crossing the river who had not yet gained a firm footing after the attack, they would definitely be wiped out. Everyone turned their attention to the location of Hojo Tsunari's horse seal, but the horse seal remained motionless and did not make any move. The order was revised and still required the Hojo Clan Teru and the Hojo Clan's Noble Division to cross the river.
"Grandfather!" Hojo's grandson, the deputy general who followed Hojo Tsunari, saw Hojo Tsunari's delay in responding, and said hurriedly, "Let the uncles who crossed the river withdraw quickly! Otherwise, the enemy's cavalry will
Once it arrives, it’s all over!”
"Yes, Your Highness!" The other retainers around also suggested one by one, "We can't cross the river! Being charged by 1,200 Red Leaf Army cavalry on the open flat land by the river, even if the First Lord was alive
It’s impossible to stop it!”
Amidst the anxious sounds around him, Hojo Tsunari remained unmoved and watched helplessly as all the cavalrymen of the Red Leaves Army crossed the Chikuma River and began to form formation. Still no order was issued. At this moment, the soldiers of the Hojo Army who were crossing the river
His face turned ashen. The Hojo clan was frantically directing the soldiers already on the south bank of the Chikuma River to repair the horse defenses, while the Hojo clan's rules urged the soldiers who were frightened to have weak legs to cross the river to support his brother.
Seeing that the attack of the Red Leaf Cavalry was about to come, Tsunari Hojo, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke, making all the samurai of the Hojo family breathe a sigh of relief - although retreating now would result in the loss of rear-end troops, the main force would not be injured.
However, Hojo Tsunari took a deep breath and issued the completely opposite order.
"Everyone, continue to cross the river and march south! We must hold back the Red Leaf Army's cavalry at any cost!" Hojo Tsunari had not roared with such a loud voice for a long time, but such a volume did not seem to be able to fully express his determination. So he pinched
The horse's belly came to the horse seal, pulled out the horse seal that he had inserted into the soil, and then rode his horse towards the Chikuma River in the south, shouting sternly: "All Hojo troops who have not joined the front line attack obey the order!
The entire army immediately looks for a crossing point and crosses the Chikuma River to the south! Drag the Hongye Army’s cavalry here! Follow my pace!”
"Grandfather!" Hojo Ujikatsu, who was riding a horse to catch up, looked at Hojo Tsunari as if he were a madman, and said with a trembling voice, "It's useless, Grandfather! No matter how many people we cross, it's useless! We don't have any."
Time is arrayed on the other side of the river, but they will be washed away as soon as they reach the shore!"
"Then let them defeat you!" Hojo Tsunari, who had obviously gone through hardships and transformed into a kind old man, was as ferocious as a ghost at this moment, "We will come in front of them and kill them! Even if we die here, we will drag them away.
On the south bank of the Chikuma River!"
"Grandfather!" Hojo Ujikatsu was so anxious that he was about to burst into tears. Seeing Hojo Tsunayoshi giving the order to die like this but unable to do anything, "Grandfather! What are you doing, Grandfather! Why are you giving such an order!"
"Because the cavalry that crossed the river with full confidence is already the last reserve team of the Red Leaf Army!" Hojo Tsunari gritted his teeth, his eyes were sharp, as if he had picked up the memory of him decades ago.
The murderous aura in Kawagoe City, "As long as we hold them back, Yuqiu Hongye will have no troops to send! As long as they start to come into contact with us, we will hold them down!"
"Send the order, His Highness Takeda, please order the Kanto daimyo to lead their troops north to the Saikawa River immediately! Do a parallel movement like us, detour from the north back to the defense line of the Momiji Army, and then cross south to attack the Main of Yuqiu Momiji!" Hojo Tsunari shouted to him!
He shouted with the messenger who was accompanying him, "Although we still narrowly escaped death, this is our only chance to decide the winner in this day, to defeat the Oda family's northern route army in Shinano, and to repel the Oda Eastern Expeditionary Army to defend Kanto.
It’s over!”
·
However, reality immediately poured cold water on Hojo Tsunari.
When he noticed that the Hojo family had sent 10,000 people to cross the river, and then added the entire army to cross the river, Yu Qiuping immediately judged the latter's intention. The copper wall, which was about to charge towards the river bank, was waiting for the rain.
After Qiuping's signal, the attack was immediately stopped. After leaving two companies lingering at the pontoon, the other company quickly went north back to Yu Qiuping's horse seal, and marched non-stop towards Xichuan. At this time, Guandong Xiao
The daimyo's troops had just crossed the Sai River, only a few hundred of them.
"Lost." Hojo Tsunari, who was dragging his old body and trying hard to cross the Chikuma River, watched the Maple Bird Horse Seal shaking rapidly to issue instructions, and looked at the Maple Leaf Cavalry that was originally about to charge towards them.
He walked away, feeling miserable in his heart. "I took it for granted...I thought my feint attack could confuse Yuqiu Hongye...He is a defense expert who stands tall in military strategy in this era. How could I possibly deceive him..."
"Grandpa, the situation is now in our favor. Why do you say that?" Hojo Ujikatsu looked at Hojo Tsunage with a puzzled expression, and asked while helping him to ride his horse onto the land on the south bank of the Chikuma River, "
The Hongye Army has given up on preventing us from crossing the river, and we can now regroup! The Kanto daimyo in the north have also successfully crossed the river. Next, if both wings advance together, won't they be able to outflank Yuqiu Hongye's main formation?"
"If we want to reach the Hongye Army's main formation, we have to go eastward and then cross the river again... The Hongye Army only needs to dismantle the pontoon bridge and use cavalry to block it. It will be even more difficult for us to cross that section of the river...
"Hojo Tsunage coughed heavily because of the bump just now.
"It's just 1,200 cavalry. Can they stop our two armies?" Hojo Ujikatsu asked nonchalantly.
"There is no need to block it, just delaying it for an hour is enough..." Hojo Tsunari turned sideways on his horse and looked towards the west of Wife and Daughter Mountain, where several clusters of wolf smoke were slowly rising.
"We've run out of time."
·
At this moment, Hojo Tsunaka, who was in formation on Tsuma and Daughter Mountain, was fighting the roaring Hokurikudo army of 40,000 troops with a death consciousness.
"90,000 people fought against 40,000 people, fighting hard for half a day but not making any progress..." Hojo Tsunaka also looked back at the Hachimangahara battlefield in Kawanakajima where Hojo Tsunari was, and murmured with emotion, "Is this the autumn autumn leaves... this is
Is this the 'Absolute Defense' that Lord Changqing calls the world's most famous... Is this the 'Strongest Red Leaf Army in the World' that Lord Shingen calls... Is this the powerful army that makes both Lord Shingen and Lord Kenshin helpless... Can it be achieved in this old age?
See, this life is not in vain..."
"Tsunari, you have already worked very hard, there is no need to force it any more." Looking at Hojo Tsunari's horse seal urging the entire army to cross the river desperately, Hojo Tsunade sighed, "No matter how hard you work, you can't do this."
It’s useless, we lost from the very beginning of our decision-making... There is a wise general in the opposite camp who is good at guessing people’s hearts.”
"In the end, we still couldn't escape the history of the 'Woodpecker Project'. We were still bound by the war examples of that year and were unable to make the right decision. We were still fooled by him! We decided to attack the Red Leaf Army from the beginning.
We were already defeated at the position of Kawanakajima!" Hojo Tsuna looked up to the sky and laughed, laughing so hard that he burst into tears, and his voice became a little hoarse.
"Everyone is thinking about whether to attack, but everyone agrees to attack Kawanaka Island... Because this is how Lord Kenshin cracked the Woodpecker plan back then... Why did Lord Kenshin choose to attack with the main force?
Toward Kawanakajima—" Hojo Tsunako lowered his head and looked down at the Oda family's army that was fighting on the mountain road, "but why didn't you choose to pounce on the Rangers who also went deep alone?"
"If we had chosen to fight the Rangers from the beginning, the outcome of the battle would have been completely different." Hojo Tsunaka stood up slowly, and with the support of the guards, he staggered towards the place, leaning on the saber that was used as a cane.
On a high slope.
"At this point, Hojo, Takeda, and Kanto are all doomed to defeat." Hojo Tsunaka straightened his body, slowly pulled out his katana from the scabbard, and pointed it at Oda's army.
, "Then, in this last battle in the troubled times of the Warring States Period, let future generations remember the unchanging martial bravery of our Kanto samurai and our Sagami Hojo for thousands of years!"
Chapter completed!