On the evening of June 27, the 14th year of Tianwen (1546), the wasteland in the central part of the Three Rivers Kingdom.
The army had been marching for a whole day and had deviated from the original route to the edge of the horizon, but still failed to stop Imagawa Goro. Although the seated horse had no horsepower due to galloping all day, and its speed gradually slowed down.
But the bad news is that the chasing horses have long since lost their strength and cannot catch up. The miraculous Imagawa Goro is still hanging on the horse's neck without falling off, and the sitting horse has not circled at all.
Meaning, heading straight to the southwest - leaving the other Imagawa family cavalry who were outflanking to run back and forth in a meaningless manner.
Asahina Taitomo, who was leading the pursuit, couldn't help but start to think about some philosophical issues - is the fastest speed theoretically unobservable? Because no observation instrument can catch up with it - unless there is a faster communication method that can exceed the speed
Itself. Like a super fast flying pigeon delivering messages?
Now all they can hope for is to encounter a friendly city. Then they can go into the city to exchange horses and borrow some good horses with good horsepower from the friendly forces, so that they can have a chance to catch up.
The nearest nearby castles are the Nishio Castle of the Kira family and the Tojo Castle of the Tojo Matsudaira family, which happened to be on the route of Imagawa Goro heading southwest. It is estimated that Kira Yoshiaki and Matsudaira Yoshiharu saw the Imagawa Army's cavalry.
You will be surprised after the formation - how come we have just separated from Yoshida Castle on the front leg, and you are chasing after us on the back leg.
It was getting late, and Asahina Yasumi lit up torches with his young guards and the Imagawa family cavalry who were gathering one after another and continued to follow. As the sun went down, their hearts continued to sink - in the middle of the night, no one could see
The road was cleared, and so was the horse. However, Goro Imagawa's horse was still running when he sat down. If the horse accidentally stumbled, then Goro Imagawa, a child, would have been saved from being thrown to death. To make matters worse, Goro Imagawa's horse had already run away.
Entering a hilly area, it was a dark and windy night, and the torches in the hands of Asahina Taimo and others were not enough to illuminate the road so clearly, and Imagawa Goro's back became blurry, as if he had been lost in the blink of an eye.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the horse couldn't run anymore, and its speed gradually slowed down. Asahina Taitomo and others did not care, and tried their best to squeeze their horses to pursue. Now Asahina Taitomo began to worry about himself——
He could clearly feel that his mount's hooves were weakening and it might fall down at any time, foaming at the mouth.
Finally, around midnight, when the moon came out from behind the dark clouds, Imagawa Goro's horse finally gave out and staggered to a stop. The horses of Asahina Taito and others were also unable to move forward any further.
Many knights had already fallen down in the dark night, including their horses and men. Asahina Taichao got angry, simply abandoned the horse, ran towards Imagawa Goro on foot, and finally grabbed the reins of the fierce horse. The little boy
Imagawa Goro hugged the horse's neck tightly with his hands, his arms were frozen, his face turned purple, and he kept shivering.
"Young Master, Young Master, you scared us so much." Asahina Yasuo hurriedly hugged Imagawa Goro down, and after confirming that he was healthy, he finally calmed down. Imagawa Goro's little mouth kept trembling, and he kept crying.
He was speechless and seemed to be even more frightened.
"Go back and tell the main army that there is no need to move forward. The young master is safe and sound and has been rescued!" Asahina Taichao then turned around and shouted to the other guards and cavalry behind him, but he only saw the torches shining down on each of them helplessly.
faces, and their horses that completely lost their strength and fell on the roadside as soon as they stopped.
Who still has the energy to go back and report the news?
On June 28, the 14th year of Tenmon (1546), the Imagawa army and the people of Higashi Mikawa Province continued to advance southwest. It was not until the sun was rising that they finally encountered Asahina Taitomo who was rushing to report a message. He was riding a horse that was not his own.
, but walked to the nearest Nishio Castle after dawn, borrowed a horse from the Kira family, and then rushed back to report the news.
"Not bad, you served once and got a new horse. Unlike me, you are so lucky to stay here and get scolded." Okabe Motonobu, who greeted Asahina Taichao, did not hesitate to make a cold joke.
.
"That's because my horse almost ran to death, what do you think?" Asahina Yasumo glared at Okabe Motonobu fiercely.
"Make no mistake, it was you, an unreliable fellow, who encouraged the young master to ride a horse, which caused the catastrophe. If you had listened to me, nothing would have happened." Okabe Gennobu also retorted, while introducing Asahina Taito as the master.
In the account.
"Asahina, are you back?" Lengquan Weihe stood up immediately after seeing Asahina Taichao, "Where is the young master?"
"Finally we stopped him and ensured safety. However, the young master was frightened and overworked, so he couldn't come back for the time being, so we arranged for someone to take him to Nishio Castle to rest." After Asahina Taichao finished his report, he immediately knelt down and stood aside.
Okabe Motobu also immediately knelt down on the ground. The happy enemies leaned over to plead guilty in a tacit understanding: "Please forgive me, my lords!"
"Forget it, it's okay. I've heard from the people around you that you are trying to dissuade me. It was the young master who suddenly got on the horse and couldn't control the horse that caused the trouble." Leng Quan waved his hand for He, indicating that it was okay, but
He still gave an education: "Be careful in the future. You who are servants must not cherish your feathers and think about pleasing the young master. The young master is still young and needs you to watch more. Even if you are older in the future, you should enter
We must give advice even when we give advice, and we must not overly consider personal gains and losses.”
"Yes, Master Lengquan! I am here to teach you!" Okabe Motonobu and Asahina Taito said in unison again.
"Then Ukonoe, are we going back to Okazaki Castle now?" After contacting Imagawa Goro's safety crisis, Osawa Motomin reconfirmed the marching direction of the troops with Yamada Keitaka.
"Well... such repeated changes of orders from day to day may make the army and the people of Mikawa unhappy. However, let's proceed according to the original plan." Yamada Ketaka hesitated for a moment, but chose to return to Okazaki Castle, "But
, let everyone have lunch first, and then give the order to set off."
However, something unexpected happened during this short lunch period.
"What? Found the Oda Army? They have already reached the lower reaches of the Yahagi River? Are they almost ready to cross the river?"
The samurai of the Imagawa family who were sitting around having a meal were all shocked when they heard this.
"It's absolutely true." Oda Kirahikojiro, who came back to report the news, swore and reported: "It was the spies of the friendly Kira family who discovered that there were many Oda family ninjas and detectives active, and they kept opening the intelligence barrier and not allowing outsiders to approach. So we borrowed
I got the Kira family's war horses and equipment, and rode reconnaissance with the Kira family's knights, dispersed a small group of Oda family ninjas and scout horses, climbed the high slope, and confirmed that the Oda army group was moving in the direction of the southern ferry.
There must be at least 5,000 people."
"So many?" Uden Nagamochi was so surprised that he almost dropped his chopsticks. "Aren't the Oda troops going to take the official road that they used to invade Mikawa? Instead, they went around the field and came to Minami Mikawa?"
"What do you mean, do you want to attack Tojo Castle and Nishio Castle and force us to rescue them? Or is this team just pretending to attract our army southward so that their main force can have a chance to raid the front line of Okazaki Castle?"
Or do you want to launch a pincer offensive, advance in two directions, and advance into the hinterland of Mikawa?" Kisang Osawa was confused by the sudden movement of the Oda army, and for a while he could not figure out Oda Nobuhide's intention.
"But this is an opportunity..." After a brief surprise, Yamada Ketaka, who had experienced many battles, was the first to react, "Whether it is the Rangers or the main force, our army happens to be near the crossing of the river on the opposite side. If we can fight a
If we attack halfway, we can directly reverse the situation of the battle."
"That makes sense." Uden Nagamochi and Osawa Motosang also immediately realized the fighter opportunity in front of them.
"Inform the Mikawa people behind you, as well as the friendly forces of the Kira family and Tojo Matsudaira family, to come quickly to join our troops and prepare to ambush and form an array along the Yahagi River." Yamada Keitaka gave the decisive order, and Okabe Motonobu,
Asahina Taitomo, Oda Kirihikojiro and others immediately left the camp to convey the order.
"What a piece of luck... I chased the young master all the way, but happened to bump into the Oda army crossing the river?" Oda Kirihiko Jiro sighed in disbelief.
"Maybe this is part of the young master's plan." Okabe Motonobu's cold jokes remained stable.
"Come on, you didn't see how the young master vomited after returning home last night." Asahina Taichao couldn't help laughing when he thought of what happened last night.
"Asahina-sama, how can you laugh at the scandal of your master's family?" Oda Kirihiko Jiro, who has always been upright, protested with a straight face.
"Did you hear that?" Okabe Motonobu also rolled his eyes at Asahina Yasu, "You unreliable little guy."
"Why, couldn't it be that you laughed at Okabe's cold joke? Odagiri, why didn't you scold him?"
On the other side of the Yahagi River, the Oda army was in formation.
"My lord, we discovered the Kira family's scouts. After we dispersed them, they came with a small group of knights and rushed to the shore of the Yahagi River. We didn't come to stay. We probably gave them a glimpse of the main army's formation. Please convict!"
A scout from the Oda Army rushed back to report to Oda Nobuhide.
"It doesn't matter, such a large-scale army operating in broad daylight will be seen sooner or later. After the Kira family has discussed the reason, they will send someone to Okazaki Castle to report the situation. After the Imagawa army has discussed the reason, they will send troops.
Going south - there is no one who cannot arrive in two or three days." Oda Nobuhide waved his hand indifferently, and at the same time confirmed to Takigawa Kazumasa, "Is there any movement of the Imagawa Army? Where are they?"
"We arrived at the Ganluji Temple area the day before yesterday and were heading northwest along the official road from Yoshida Castle to Okazaki Castle." Takigawa Kazumasu reported: "We can't get any further information. There are no ninjas.
Reply to the message."
"That's enough. If we were still at Yanlue Temple the day before yesterday, unless the whole army ran to the southwest with all their might, it would be impossible to reach Xiwei City today. But they are in good condition, how could they suddenly change their route? If they want to go to Xiwei City
, Wouldn’t it be better to just go west from Yoshida Castle? Why go north to Ganluoji Temple? Follow the original plan, prepare to cross the river, and surround Nishio Castle before nightfall today." Oda Nobuhide waved his hand to the center of the Oda army.
