June 24, the 14th year of Astronomy (1546), Yoshida Castle in Mikawa Kingdom.
Imagawa Yoshimoto and Taiyuan Xuezai went to Luo this time and took away almost most of the elites and important officials of the Imagawa family. The troops and retainers who stayed behind seemed a little powerless in the face of Oda Nobuhide's menacing invasion. Of course, Shouguini had already
It was expected that Oda Nobuhide would attack Mikawa after the battle in Kyoto came to an end, so he had already assembled his troops towards Yoshida Castle in advance.
However, in order to prevent the Hojo family from breaking the contract and invading, Shouguini himself had to stay in Imagawakan, and Hatamoto Kotobi and the Suruga people were unable to mobilize to Mikawa to support them. As for the Ensou people - the Central Eso people and
All the Hōeō clan had followed Imagawa Yoshimoto to Luo, leaving only the Nishōe clan and Hatamoto Ahnbei. Shougui Ni could only leave Ahnbei to garrison Nishizaki Castle to maintain the stability of Hōe, and at the same time be ready to support Suruga at any time.
.The only people who could go to Sanhe to support were the more than 2,200 people from the Xiyuanjiang Zhong, who were under the leadership of Prime Minister Ozawa.
In the Mikawa area, the Imagawa family left 1,200 people from Nishibi, Hatamoto Town, to guard Yoshida Castle, the core of Higashi Mikawa. At the same time, there were 300 people from the Makino family, 210 people from the Kanuma family, 100 people from the Okuhira family, and Saigo
The 300 people from the family are all available for dispatch. The 2,100 people from the Higashi Matsudaira clan, the 300 people from the Tojo Matsudaira family, and the 300 people from the Goi Matsudaira family are allies. Among them, the Tojo Matsudaira family has now shown that it has left the Matsudaira family and joined the Matsudaira family.
The state of the Imagawa family.
In other words, the Imagawa family only has a total of more than 7,000 troops.
As for the Oda family, although 3,000 people followed Oda Nobunaga to Luo, they were still able to mobilize 7,000 troops. Together with the Nishimatsudaira clan and Nishi Mikawa and other Japanese people who surrendered to the Oda family, they could easily gather more than 11,000 troops.
The comparison of human troops and military strength is very unfavorable to the Imagawa family.
What's even worse is that the Imagawa Army currently gathered in Higashi Mikawa is facing the dilemma of being leaderless and without a command. Originally, the military affairs in the Higashi Mikawa area were under the responsibility of Zhenxi Preparatory Captain Yamada Keitaka, while the political affairs were under the leadership of Taiyuan Xue Zhai.
His cronies, Ohara Jinmai, take the lead. When necessary, Yamada Ketaka and the people in the Higashi Mikawa area will obey the orders of Ohara Jinmai. But now, Ohara Zhenshi has been taken away to Luo by Taiyuan Xuezhai, and there are many people in Xiyuanjiang.
Retainers whose qualifications were not inferior to or even higher than those of Yamada Ketaka also came. It was difficult for Yamada Ketaka to command so many people as a driving force. And as a mere captain of the Imagawa family banner, it was even more difficult for him to deal with it.
The Higashimatsudaira clan, an ally of the Imagawa clan, gave orders.
Without a unified command, it is difficult to imagine that Higashi Mikawa, who was in disarray and with only a few soldiers, would be unable to cope with Oda Nobhide's attack. This was exactly what the Oda family planned when they agreed to send people to follow the Imagawa army to Luo.
Therefore, in order to stabilize the morale of the army and unify the command, Imagawakan sent important personnel to Higashi Mikawa——
The 9-year-old Imagawa family's young master Goro Imagawa (later Imagawa Ujima), and the diplomatic monk Reizumi Yukazu who came with him as guardians.
In the Yoshida Castle Keep, Yamada Keitaka, Osawa Motosho, Uden Nagamochi and other Imagawa family retainers were communicating with Reizumi with embarrassment.
"Can't you come to the Imperial Palace?" Yamada Ketaka confirmed with a frown.
"The Hojo family has already assembled troops at the border. Although they are not sure whether they really want to tear up the armistice agreement, but with the nature of those Sagami people... they have to be careful no matter what. The Odaiden must stay in person, otherwise they are afraid of being recaptured
Things changed again in Kadong soon." Since the murder of Imagawa Ujiteru, Lengquan Weihe's attitude towards the Hojo family has been very bad. So much so that when negotiating peace with the Hojo family, this diplomatic monk who had worked for the Imagawa family for half his life was unwilling to do so.
Come forward and expect to hear good things about the Hojo family from his mouth, I'm afraid it will take the next life.
"But Young Master, although he is talented and intelligent...after all, he is still young." Osawa Motoxiang glanced at Goro Imagawa, the worry in his eyebrows getting a little heavier. He is 9 years old, so he is indeed young, but in
In these troubled times of the Warring States Period, there were many young samurai who were under the age of 10 and wanted to take the lead - but Imagawa Goro was obviously not one of them. Although he received the best samurai education since he was a child, he was pampered. Whether it was Imagawa Yoshimoto, Ginkgo
The couple, as well as his teacher Taiyuan Xue Zhai, are reluctant to let their baby go through any hardships. From birth to now, he has basically never stepped out of Imagawa Hall.
At this time, he obviously did not realize the importance and dangers of this trip. The retainers were discussing matters worriedly on the side, but he did not care and did not intend to participate in it. He still fiddled with himself and brought him out of the Imagawa Pavilion.
A box of flower and bird paintings and a collection of Japanese songs - exactly the same as those of his father Imagawa Yoshimoto.
"Of course there will be no need for the young master to come forward. He is only the nominal general." Lengquan Weihe told everyone about Shouguini's arrangements. "The overall coordination of the response to the enemy will be left to Ukonoe-sama (Yamada Keitaka). However,
Tomorrow, the poor monk will ask the young master to meet with the generals and envoys from the Matsudaira family to inform them of the young master's arrival. Although the subsequent military orders were drafted by Ukonoe-sama, they can be issued in the name of the young master, so they must be able to do so.
Conquer the public."
"Let the young master practice and learn how to arrange military formations. After all, this is the first time I have experienced these things." As a member of the Imagawa family and a close confidant of Imagawa Ujiteru, Udono Nagamochi is very concerned about the Imagawa family's housework.
He was quite concerned about it, so he was naturally worried about his nephew's growth, "It's not enough to just stay in Imagawa Hall and learn, you still need to accumulate more experience."
"That's really embarrassing. Master Xuezai is a master of military strategy, and His Royal Highness the Family Governor is also capable of fighting, but you want me to learn from you in the first formation of the young master?" Yamada Ketaka smiled bitterly when he heard this, "What if Master Xuezai?
It would be nice to have His Highness the Governor here..."
"We don't know how long it will take for the Shangluo Army to come back. However, Master Xue Zhai said before that he seems to be planning to retreat by sea, and it is estimated that it will take a long time." Leng Quanwei shared the information received by Imagawa Hall with his colleagues," Odaiden said
, please be prepared for reinforcements that will not be available for a long time, and you must rely on the troops on hand to persist."
"Let the people of the country defend the cage city on their own, and our banner and the Xiyuanjiang people will provide mobile support. It will be okay to hold on, right?" Osawa Kisho, who is an expert in the cage city, suggested.
"Under this situation, the Matsudaira family and other people from Mikawa are probably not that reliable anymore." Yamada Keitaka has been guarding Mikawa for many years and knows the situation better than anyone else. "They have always been just helpless people. If they knew
Our main force will not be back for a long time, and the fighting situation is very dangerous. There is no guarantee that they will be tempted to go to the Oda family. Fortunately, His Highness the Governor is generous and loving. He has been kind to these people in the past, and they
For the sake of affection, maybe the situation will be better."
"Aren't there any hostages here?" Uden Nagamochi asked, "I see that all the hostages from the Higashi Mikawa Kingdom are watching in the honmaru of Yoshida Castle."
"There is no guarantee that if the situation gets really bad, they will cut off their tails to survive. In any case, they cannot be passively beaten. The Oda family will definitely spread rumors that our main force is not here, and neither is Master Yuzhai and His Highness the family governor. The people of the country are worried
The will to fight will inevitably waver." Yamada Ketaka added, "You can't think about the cage city, you have to find a way to defeat the Oda army's frontline once through counterattack or field battle to boost the morale of the army."
"Let's look for an opportunity." Osawa Kisho nodded, "But we should first strengthen the wall and clear the country, put the Oda army into the hinterland, and then make plans after arriving at our home ground."
On the other side, Omi Country.
The coalition forces of the Imagawa Army and the Takeda Army left Kyoto, carrying the looted grain, grass, military supplies, and Minakata's brother Ashikaga Yoshiaki, and headed north along the west bank of Lake Biwa, preparing to go to Wakasa Country and board a prepared ship. But at Astronomical Ten
On June 25, the fourth year (1546), Taiyuan Xuezhai suddenly came to Imagawa Yoshimoto and Ginkgo tent in the middle of the night:
"Chengfang, then you will lead the army back by boat. We will leave first, walk through the mountainous area, go all the way south to Iga, then go east across Iga to Ise, and return to Mikawa by boat. It will take about ten days.
arrive."
"Ah? What if we are attacked?" Imagawa Yoshimoto roughly planned the route of Taiyuan Xuezhai in his mind: Yamashiro Country, Minami Omi, Yamato Country, Iga Country, Ise Country - the local forces are
If you don't deal with the Imagawa family, it will be a dangerous road no matter what.
Especially Iga Country, although its territory is not large and its output is not much. But as the saying goes, the poor mountains and rivers breed unruly people, the terrain is complex, and there are many mountainous areas. Iga Country is a paradise for ninjas and people. It is extremely xenophobic and has been used as a country since ancient times.
They enjoyed ambushing and hunting foreign samurai. In the previous life, the Oda family, which had already dominated the world, was disgraced by the small Iga country. After Oda Nobuo was disgraced, Oda Nobunaga personally mobilized tens of thousands of people.
The army surrounded and suppressed them on all sides, and finally defeated Iga Kingdom.
Traveling through Iga alone with a small number of people is dangerous no matter how you look at it - Tokugawa Ieyasu in his previous life fled back to his hometown from Kinki in a hurry after the Honnoji Incident, and had to lead his guards across Iga. In just a few days, this period
The experience was described by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had seen countless storms and waves in his life, as "the most difficult moment in his life", and its dangers are evident.
"You can't think of it, let alone the people of the Oda family. When we marched north with great fanfare, they must have decided that we were going to return to our base by boat, thinking that they had a lot of time. But in fact, the poor monk had already taken a shortcut and returned directly to Mikawa. Suddenly
Appearing on the battlefield and taking command personally, the Oda army will definitely be in chaos." Taiyuan Xuezhai seemed not to care about these dangers, and had already begun to plan with great interest how to use Mikawa's troops to teach Oda Nobhide, who underestimated the enemy and rushed forward.
:
"As for the road, I have hired local ninjas from Iga several months in advance and arranged to take care of the Chinese people on the passing route. Together with our own ninjas from the Imagawa family, we can ensure that there will be no problems."
"A few months ago? Before the war started in Kyoto, did the teacher prepare for the post-war affairs? Could it be that he deliberately made the Oda family think that there were no capable people in our territory to lure them to send troops?" Imagawa Yoshimoto was shocked when he heard this.
No surprise - three steps in one step, isn't this exactly the style of Taiyuan Xuezhai?
"That's right, luring Oda Nobuhide in and giving him a beating will be the last move in our trip to Shangluo." Taiyuan Xuezhai nodded slightly and told Imagawa Yoshimoto: "Then I'll leave it to you to support the army. We'll stop at the shore for supplies on the way.
Fresh water and food are also quite troublesome. We have to deal with many daimyo and Chinese people we have never met or even have bad relations with. Can you handle it?"
"I can't figure it out." Imagawa Yoshimoto laughed cheerfully, and then changed the topic: "So, teacher, I have a suggestion."
