Imagawa Yoshimoto and his horsemen drove past the queue of the Hojo family, and it was as pleasant as passing by a wheat field on the roadside. Having learned from the past, the soldiers of the Hojo family did not dare to attack at all, and Imagawa Yoshimoto also cautiously Maintaining a distance beyond the range of the bow and arrow. He looked back from time to time to look at the gap he had just rushed out of. After confirming that the pursuers of the Hojo family did not pursue him from the north of the official road to the south of the official road, he gradually let go of his suspense.
"Relying on constant harassment, I finally slowed down the progress of the Hojo Army and bought a day. I hope that I can have enough troops from the Kadong area to arrive at Katsurayama Castle." Imagawa Yoshimoto silently planned the progress of supporting the troops - he is out on an expedition today. After walking for most of the day, I don’t know the specific marching situation. The fastest one should be the Fuji family. If they set off from Fujimiya Castle, they should...
"boom!"
An explosion suddenly came from my ears, and Imagawa Yoshimoto's horse immediately stood up with a neighing sound. Imagawa Yoshimoto was skilled in equestrian skills, so he was fine, but many horses around him were almost thrown off their horses - such as Kira. Wei Cheng, he really fell down.
After Imagawa Yoshimoto came to his senses, he immediately realized that it was an iron cannon fire. He turned his head and looked to the right, and saw the iron gunner of the Hojo family standing on the official road and firing at him. The smoke from the gun had not completely dissipated. However, , Imagawa Yoshimoto himself had been keeping a certain distance from the Hojo family's queue just now, and was not within the range of the iron cannon, so this salvo did not cause any damage, but only had the effect of frightening the horses.
"Why were you transferred here?" Akai Heigao's horse was also frightened, and he couldn't help but cursed, "Wasn't the iron artillery team at the head just now? Why was it transferred to the middle?"
"There may be a back-up plan." Himura Hiroyuki also became alert, "Your Highness, please evacuate quickly."
"Don't withdraw." Imagawa Yoshimoto shook his head decisively, turned his horse's head to point in the direction of the official road, and said with his keen sense of battlefield: "The iron artillery team was specially mobilized, which shows that the Hojo family has a plan against us. But it is clear that there are Why did the iron artillery team still open fire outside the range? It means that the mission of the iron artillery team is not to hit us. This means that the Hojo family has other back-ups to attack us. Then I guess that the iron artillery salvo is just to slow down the attack. The speed of our horses will buy time for the Hojo cavalry to make a detour, and soon they will come around from the west of the official road - no wonder they did not pursue us, but wanted to directly block our retreat."
"Then what should we do if Your Highness...does not retreat?" the horsemen asked one after another.
"Attack. Rush over and deal with the pair of iron gunners before they have time to reload. You all know how long it takes for a team of iron gunners to train proficiently in using iron cannons, right? Deal with this team of iron gunners here and the rest of the battle will begin. The Hojo family has no iron cannons." Imagawa Yoshimoto raised his hand and pointed straight at the pair of unprotected iron cannons on the Hojo family's official road, snapping his fingers, "Gentlemen, follow me and charge into the battle!"
"I go?"
At this time, in the Hojo family's formation, Oto Nobuki, who was leading the iron artillery team, was so stunned that he couldn't close his mouth when he saw that instead of retreating, the Imagawa family's horsemen gathered around the red bird horse seal and went straight towards the Hojo army again. I asked, "Is this governor desperate for his life? What is he doing?"
Yes, none of the iron gunners of the Hojo family expected that Imagawa Yoshimoto, instead of speeding up his evacuation after being ambushed by the iron artillery, directly counterattacked the army alone, so that no one was prepared to guard against the cavalry charging into the formation. .They were hurriedly transferred from the front line to the center, and they couldn't even find enough anti-horse pikemen nearby.
The distance of forty feet was only a matter of a few breaths for the cavalry. The Hojo family's iron gunners were not given any time to dodge. The Imagawa family's horsemen were already in front of them. The Hojo family's iron gunners tried in vain to use the iron in their hands. The cannons resisted the samurai swords, but they could only be chopped down by random swords. These precious iron gunners, who had been trained for several months or even more than a year, were cut down in pieces like wheat by the Imagawa family's horsemen. Oto Nobuki almost vomited blood when he saw it, but he had no choice but to flee with the defeated troops in embarrassment.
During these few breaths, Imagawa Yoshimoto clearly saw more than 200 knights of the Hojo family coming around from a gap in front of the Hojo family's marching column, which was just enough to block the horseback crowd. The westward direction on the south side of the official road. If Imagawa Yoshimoto had chosen to continue fleeing west just now, he might have been beaten by the roundabout Hojo team due to the low horse speed caused by the iron cannon.
The house cavalry was disintegrated with a side attack.
Thinking of this, Imagawa Yoshimoto loudly urged: "Don't chase too much and keep your horse speed, otherwise it will be very dangerous. Hurry and kill to the north of the official road, then turn west..."
Before he finished speaking, the sound of galloping horse hooves suddenly came from the west - the Hojo family's horsemen were surrounded by Hojo Ujiyasu, coming directly from the planned retreat route of the Imagawa family's horsemen, and the Imagawa army had no time to speed up. He hedged and reluctantly accepted the fight. In an instant, he was hacked to pieces by the Hojo family knights because of their thin armor. Dozens of them fell down in an instant.
"Did you expect that I would rush into the battle? Otherwise, why would you be ambushing me here? Since you had already expected it, why did you let the precious iron artillery team come to die? Is it a bait?" Imagawa Yoshimoto was really surprised. Struggling to lead his men to break out of the encirclement to the north, Hojo Ujiyasu behind him led the Hojo family's horsemen in pursuit. At the same time, Hojo Ujiyasu's horse seal in the middle army was also constantly waving, commanding the surrounding official roads. All the troops came together to encircle Imagawa Yoshimoto. The distance between the two governors was only more than ten feet, so that Imagawa Yoshimoto could clearly hear Hojo Ujiyasu's roar:
"Look where you are going?" Hojo Ujiyasu slapped the horse forward fiercely, and yelled at Imagawa Yoshimoto's red bird horse seal: "You will be considered clean until I poop you!"
The Imagawa family's horsemen rushed left and right, but their horsepower was no longer what it used to be. In addition, their armor was fragile and they did not dare to charge into the formed infantry formation. Seeing that the surrounding Hojo army was becoming more and more encircled, the Imagawa army suffered casualties. It was getting bigger and bigger, and the casualties of the horsemen reached almost 30%, and the samurai became a little impatient. Their own lives didn't matter, but what would they do if Imagawa Yoshimoto was killed here?
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Your Highness, how about we cover your breakout first, and then we can break out on our own?" Himura Uyoha and Akai Kurotaka leaned beside Imagawa Yoshimoto. asked.
"No need. Speaking of which, did you get the head I asked you to find a way to get just now?" Imagawa Yoshimoto said calmly without changing his expression.
"It's been beaten like this. It's already been lost. Who cares about the military merit of a decapitated person? I've cut off hundreds of them in my life." Akai Heigao yelled, cursing, "Your Highness, please quickly find a way to stand out. go!"
"I have been carrying it with me." Himura Hiroyuki pointed to the head tied behind the horse's butt, "I wonder what your highness means?"
"Put this head on the flagpole." Imagawa Yoshimoto looked back at the flag bearer holding the red bird horse seal behind him.
"Then what?" everyone asked, and the flag bearer on the side finally completed that action with the help of several people - it was really difficult on a bumpy horseback.
"Then shout with me -" Imagawa Yoshimoto coughed twice, and then seemed to be unable to let go of his arrogance, pretending to shout in a small voice: "Hojo Ujiyasu has been taken!"
Only then did everyone suddenly realize that they gathered around the head that was placed on the red bird horse seal and shouted in unison: "Hojo Ujiyasu has been claimed!"
The members of the Imagawa family in the outer circle were stunned for a moment when they heard this shout. Not knowing whether it was true or not, they all became excited and restless, shouting "Hojo Ujiyasu has been claimed", and shouted more fiercely for a fierce battle. .
The soldiers of the Hojo family were all frightened. The guards around Hojo Ujiyasu hurriedly shouted loudly in an attempt to quell the rumors. However, the other horsemen of the Hojo family who were farther away stopped their attacking movements and looked back worriedly. The place where Hojo Ujiyasu was still there not long ago. Some people saw the figure of Hojo Ujiyasu and resumed the attack while suppressing the troops. However, some horsemen were unable to find Hojo Ujiyasu among the rebellious army due to the angle. Feeling more and more uneasy.
The Hojo family's horsemen were relatively well-off. After all, they knew that Hojo Ujiyasu himself came here with the cavalry. As for the other Hojo family samurai and Ashigaru, they thought that Hojo Ujiyasu was still in the army, and they all looked at him. He threw himself at the horse seal of Hojo Ujiyasu - but there was nothing under the horse seal. There were only a few flag bearers, and Hojo Ujiyasu himself could not be seen at all. The surrounding Hojo family soldiers suddenly became panicked, while the Hojo family soldiers further away could not see at all. Not sure what was going on under the horse mark, and after discovering that there was a commotion around the horse mark, the situation was also in chaos.
"Damn it." Hojo Ujiyasu realized that the situation was not good, but it didn't look good for a while.
method. In the previous battle, Imagawa Yoshimoto relied on the command advantage of being on the front line to make a fool of the Hojo family's troops, forcing Hojo Ujiyasu to rush to the front line to command in person. However, Hojo Ujiyasu was afraid that moving the horse seal would cause the troops to attack. The command was in confusion, so he did not carry the horse seal - but Imagawa Yoshimoto came and spread the rumor.
The soldiers of the Hojo family were in chaos, and rumors always spread faster than refuted rumors. Although many soldiers were still fighting hard, they could no longer stop the Imagawa family's horsemen from breaking out and leaving. Many samurai of the Hojo family were anxious. Getting angry, he tried his best to appease the soldiers and tried to pursue him. He didn't want to see the cooked duck fly away, but Hojo Ujiyasu felt relaxed at this moment.
"Do you know why we didn't catch Imagawa Yoshimoto?" Hojo Ujiyasu laughed and looked at his subordinates, then nodded his head with his hand, "Because I made a mistake, I shouldn't let Imagawa Yoshimoto Noticed that I myself left the formation."
"But Imagawa Yoshimoto also made the same mistake, didn't he?" After Hojo Ujiyasu smiled enough, he pointed back at the back of the Imagawa family's horsemen leaving, "He let me know that he left Katsurayama Castle on his own, and he was not I only know it now, but I guessed last night that he would definitely repeat his same trick today and personally lead the main force of the horsemen to harass me on the road. The only one left in Kazuyama City is Kazuyama Bei, who has recently fallen to the Imagawa family. More than a hundred soldiers, right?"
"Then guess, if I had known all this in advance, what kind of order would I have given to Chibei who was waiting next to Katsurayama Castle in advance? In today's battle, it seems that Imagawa Yoshimoto slowed down the advance of our army. In fact, we slowed down his return to aid Katsurayama Castle! At this time, Chibei had already captured Katsurayama Castle!" Hojo Ujiyasu twitched the corner of his mouth, and then waved his hand fiercely, "Chasing, Let us destroy this annoying fly right under Geshan City!"