On the night of September 22, the twelfth year of Astronomy (1543), on the banks of the Yaharigawa River.
"Hurry, hurry up!" Oda Nobhiro, the eldest son of Oda Nobuhide, the lord of Anxiang City, was on the front line at the moment, directing the Anxiang people to quickly cross the bridge over the Yahagi River and cross eastward. In the afternoon, they ambush the people in Mikawa.
The ninjas reported back that the Imagawa army launched a full-scale attack on Kamiyaji Temple. After receiving the news, Oda Nobuhiro immediately began to organize the troops west of the Yahagi River to cross the river - this was the instruction given to him by Oda Nobuhiro.
Nafuruno Castle is dozens of miles away from the front line of the Yahagi River. If you wait until Nagono Castle receives the news before taking action, you may miss the opportunity to fight. Therefore, Oda Nobuhide entrusted the command of the front line to Oda Nobuhiro and asked him to coordinate the Nishimatsudaira family.
, An Xiangzhong, the actions of the Mizuno family and the Yamaguchi family. Once there is a change in the Kamiyaji Temple, they will immediately send their troops across the river, and Oda Nobuhide's main army will follow later.
Before nightfall, the Nishimatsudaira family had successfully crossed the Yahagi River, but Oda Nobuhiro did not dare to let them bear excessive combat tasks, so he ordered Matsudaira Nobusada to lead 1,700 troops from the Sakurai Matsudaira family, Fukugama Matsudaira family, and Miki Matsudaira family.
The remaining troops marched north along the east bank of the Yahagi River to intimidate Okazaki Castle. The troops of the Higashi Matsudaira family in Goi Castle did not dare to leave the city.
Crossing the river behind Nishimatsudaira's house were more than 1,500 people from Oda Nobhiro's headquarters in Anxiang City. They had been preparing for the war for many days and had well-stocked supplies, so they moved very quickly. After crossing the Yahagi River, they immediately attacked several people on the Oto River.
They then crossed the Oto River and rushed towards the hinterland of Mikawa. It seems that the Higashi Matsudaira clan did not dare to go out of the city to stop the Oda army from crossing the river because it was dark and there were enemies around them.
"Quickly, go to the southeast, go around to the south of Kamigou Temple, get in touch with other Ichikō sect temples, set up camp first, and wait for the arrival of the rear army." Oda Nobuhiro did not dare to fight head-on with the people at hand and the main force of the Imagawa army.
Instead, they planned to take advantage of the fact that the Imagawa army was busy besieging Kamigouji Temple and neglected to defend the river bank, to gain a foothold east of the Oto River, so that the subsequent Oda army could continuously move into Mikawa.
The Oda family's army continued to march eastward with torches, while Oda Nobuhiro himself stood on the hill next to the queue, looking back in the direction of the road - Mizuno Nobumoto was leading Mizuno Bei across the Yahagi River and towards the Oto River
Rush to the ferry.
"It's still a bit slow, Mizuno Bei..." Oda Nobuhiro assessed the progress of crossing the river, shaking his head and sighing, "Mizuno Shimono Mamoru (Mizuno Tamasa) is no longer here... Toshichiro (Mizuno Nobumoto) is still too young.
There are no rules for marching or fighting."
"During the last battle at Shodozaka, His Highness Mizuno was attacked by a hail of arrows from the Imagawa family, and a number of his servants and cronies died, all of whom were important ministers who supported his rise to power. Now his ability to control the troops has declined - it is inevitable.
." The retainer next to Oda Nobuhiro replied.
"Well, I know that it will take time for him to grow up slowly. Everyone grows up like this... No samurai is born to be a good fighter." Oda Nobuhiro nodded in agreement and stared at him.
Following the Mizuno family's somewhat clumsy formation adjustments and marching maneuvers, he "accumulated experience in expedition after expedition, won the trust of his subordinates and his own prestige in the army through small victories, and also learned lessons from defeats.
A comeback..."
However, Oda Nobhiro's words stopped abruptly, and the retainers around him also held their breaths at the same time.
I saw the south and west gates of Okazaki Castle suddenly opened, and then large numbers of troops poured out of the city gates with torches.
This kind of speed is definitely not something that the Higashi Matsudaira family's miscellaneous soldiers can achieve.
That is the flag of the Imagawa Army!
"Fell into a trap! It's strange, how did the Imagawa army accurately set up an ambush here? He knew that we would attack from here tonight." Oda Nobuhiro exclaimed, and then immediately shouted: "Send the order, everyone stops and alerts all around!"
At the same time, the intersection of Yahagi River and Oto River.
Mizuno Nobumoto was immersed in the front line directing the crossing of the river. Under the dark moon and high wind, he had no idea what was happening. He only saw Oda Nobhiro's troops on the other side of the river frantically using torches to warn him. Then, there was a big uproar from the northern troops.
They came one after another like waves. Surrounded by Sanwu Banner, he climbed up to the roof of a private house in embarrassment and looked to the north. He saw large numbers of ambush soldiers carrying torches coming out of Okazaki Castle in a steady stream.
, and headed straight to Mizuno Bei in the south.
Now Mizuno Bei is surrounded by the Yahagi River to the west and the Oto River to the southeast. He is sandwiched between the tidal flats of the two rivers. There is no way for him to maneuver, and there is not enough flat ground for him to form an array. The number of enemy troops that are attacking is only in the
At a glance at night, it was three times as many as Mizuno Bei's 900 people...
Mizuno Shingen was immediately dumbfounded - for a new governor with little command experience, he had no idea what to do at this moment - the situation was so bad that it was beyond his acceptance.
"Your Highness, retreat quickly, retreat quickly!" Mizuno Shingen was still stunned, but the bannermen around him had already reacted and were about to abandon their troops and flee with Mizuno Shingen on their mounts.
"What should I do with my subordinates?" The solid touch of his buttocks against the saddle made Mizuno Nobumoto calm down a little. The first thing he did was to think of his responsibility as the governor of the house.
"It's hopeless, your highness, it's an ambush! The Imagawa family must have expected it a long time ago!" A few flags couldn't care about the whole army. They were focused on sending Mizuno Shingen to a safe place. After all, as long as Mizuno Shingen is still there!
, their status is. And if Mizuno Shingen cannot escape to a safe place, they will have to stay in the dangerous place.
"But..." Mizuno Shingen still wanted to struggle to command his troops to form defensive formations, but found that in this dark moonlight, it was impossible to convey complex orders with torches, and he didn't know what order to convey - panic
The emotions spread rapidly among the troops. Mizuno Nobumoto watched troops fleeing one after another, but he was helpless.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Just when Mizuno Shingen hesitated, he only heard the sound of sharp arrows piercing the air, and the next moment several feather arrows roared towards him. Fortunately, the night was dark, and the Imagawa family's
The archer's aim was also inaccurate, allowing Mizuno Shingen and others to escape.
"Have the Imagawa family already reached this point?"
"Is there someone behind you?"
"Where did those arrows come from?"
"Come on, Your Highness, if you don't leave we will be stuck here!"
"Yes, Your Highness, run away quickly! Run back to Kariya City and make plans later!"
"If you keep the green hills, you won't have to worry about running out of firewood!"
Amidst the urging of Hatamoto from the left and right, the last straw in Mizuno Nobumoto's heart was also pressed down. In the chaos of war, he gave up his last effort and hastily issued an order to "disperse and escape" before pulling out. To escape, head towards the bridge over the Yahagi River first.
At this time, Mizuno Bei, who was suddenly attacked by the Imagawa army, was already in disarray. All the ministries collapsed one after another. No one had the fighting spirit to resist and just wanted to take the opportunity to escape. The samurai, ashigaru and auxiliary soldiers were in chaos, each heading towards the nearest enemy. It doesn't matter whether it's east-west, north-south, Yahagi River or Oto River, as long as there is a bridge. Many people who can't squeeze onto the bridge simply jump into the river and plan to swim and wade across the river.
Among the rebellious troops, after Hatamoto of the Imagawa family had also been killed, they were hunting down the soldiers behind the Mizuno family who were facing the enemy at the Oto River and Yahagi River like rats. Many people saw that they could not escape and knelt down to ask for surrender. , but in the dark night, many were trampled to death by the two armies running back and forth. Even many soldiers who jumped into the river and swam to escape lost their way, swam back to the starting point, and had to become prisoners obediently.
At this time, it was southeast of Oda Nobhiro's headquarters.
"The information given by Yamaguchi is accurate. As expected, the Oda army crossed the river from here, and Mizuno Bei is finished." Taiyuan Yuzhai led his army on the field, preparing to outflank Oda Nobhiro's retreat. He raised his head and glanced at the Oto River and the Yahagi River. From the number and movement of torches along the coast, he judged that the battle was over, and then ordered in a low voice:
"The Anxiang people's route has been blocked. If they want to return to the west bank of the Yahagi River, they can only take a detour to the ferry south of Fujii Castle to cross the river. Bichu and Sakyo enter, get ahead of them and block the ferry. Remember, I Oda Ohsumi (Oda Nobhiro) himself is not allowed to harm his life. Therefore, do not take action at night to prevent accidental injury. After dawn, catch the turtle in the jar."
"Yes!" Asahina Yasuno and Okabe Chizuna accepted the order and left, leading Asahina Bei and Okabe Bei to penetrate directly to the south of Oda Nobhiro's headquarters at an extremely fast speed, and move parallel to Oda Nobhiro towards the Yahagi River.
"Teacher, why do you want to outflank? It's not easy." Imagawa Yoshimoto, who was following Taiyuan Xuezhai, was a little puzzled. "Now if we directly let our army launch an attack, the Anxiang army will inevitably collapse. It would be too wasteful to go around and block the retreat. It’s time, maybe it will give Anxiang people time to form a defense.”
"Didn't you tell me, as my master, I want to capture Oda Ohsumi himself." Taiyuan Xuezhai waved his riding whip and explained to Imagawa Yoshimoto: "If you attack directly, the Anxiang people will definitely be defeated, but after defeating Oda Ohsumi must have run away with the banner as well, and cannot be caught in the wilderness. Now while he is still commanding the troops, we can make dumplings with him and the troops."
"Why must he be arrested?" Imagawa Yoshimoto was even more confused.
"Otherwise, you think I support you in making such a big fuss about Shanggong Temple? Isn't it just to fish out Oda Ohsumi from Anxiang City?" Taiyuan Xue Zhai smirked twice and touched the newly grown hair on the corner of his mouth. That mustache, "Don't forget, the legitimate son of the Matsudaira family is still a hostage with the Oda family. If we don't take him back, the Matsudaira family will not be able to be unified, and our Imagawa family will not be able to stand firm in Nishi Mikawa." Heel. And do you think it is possible for us to break into Anxiang City and Naguye City and take back the hostages? No. What should we do then?"
"Capture Oda Danmasa's son alive and then exchange hostages?" Imagawa Yoshimoto immediately understood what Taiyuan Xuezai was thinking, and then said with laughter: "Isn't this a kidnapping-for-hostage act like bandits? It is definitely not something done by the samurai family.
"
"Haha, who cares? The Oda family is also a bandit when they take other people's hostages. To deal with bandits, you have to use bandit methods." Taiyuan Xue Zhai burst into laughter.