On July 27, 3rd year of Hongxian, the Chinese Empire, Shang Yi received news in Osaka Castle and learned that Tadashi Sakai led a large army from Edo and rushed to Ohara. So Shang Yi immediately ordered to lead the army out. After Osaka Castle, he first launched an attack on Hikone Castle. This battle was called the outpost battle of the second Seihara Hokage.
Hikone Castle is located on the east bank of Lake Biwa, about fifty kilometers northeast of Kyoto. The Hikone Basilica is a must-pass after entering the Kyoto area from Edo. The regional location is very important. During the Sekigahara Hokkien War, it was once the Toyotomi Army. The main general Mitsunari Ishida is now the most frontier position for the shogunate defense.
The first vassal lord of Hikone was Ii Naomasa, one of the four kings of Tokugawa. Because Hikone vassal was the key to guarding the throat from Kansai to Kanto area and was also the forefront of the Tokugawa shogunate. This time, Sakai Tadashi sent The three daimyos, Matsue Takashi Takashi, the Takamatsu vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vassal vas The defeated army that escaped from the city now has more than 45,000 people and more than 45,000 people in the Hikone vassal.
The anti-south side with the Chinese army as the guardian, if they want to fight a decisive battle with the shogunate army, they must first capture Hikone Castle, which can block the shogunate army outside Kansai and set the battlefield of the decisive battle in the Sekigahara area.
Of course, the reason why Shang Yi had to wait until now was because he was afraid that after occupying Hikone Castle first, the shogunate army would be afraid that the Chinese army would be strong and dare not send troops from Edo. Instead, he would do his best to defend the Edo area and set up defenses at all levels. This will bring a lot of trouble to the Chinese army, and it must be attacked from city to land, and the war will last for a long time. Therefore, Shang Yi must wait until the shogunate army sends troops before attacking Hikone Castle. In this way, even if the shogunate army learns of Hikone Castle, it will be better if the shogunate army learns of Hikone Castle. It was lost, but the army had already left the city, and the arrow was on the string and had to be fired.
Edo is about 400 kilometers away from Hikone, and there are also mountain ranges that need to leapfrog (this word cannot be typed, left and right) so it takes at least seven to ten days to go from Osaka. It is only more than 100 kilometers to Hikone, and it is basically a flat road. Kyoto is closer to Hikone. Therefore, even if the time when the spies send back the news is deducted, the Chinese army still has three to four days of siege, which is completely enough.
Moreover, this time, the Chinese army has concentrated on landing in Japan, including the entire 11th Army, the 9th Army's Special Forces Brigade, the Fourth Brigade, the First Division of the Guards, and the Second Brigade, with a total of nearly six troops. More than 10,000 people, and more than 120,000 troops of the anti-strait army gathered in Kyoto were all dispatched, with the total strength of the entire army reaching more than 180,000.
When gathering troops in Kyoto, Shang Yi also organized the anti-strait army. After all, the anti-strait army came from forty-seven different daimyos. If there was no certain organization, the war would be in chaos, so Shang Yi would be defeated. The army was divided into three brigades, led by Maori Hirotsuka, Guoshima Katsushika and Arima Tadara. Each brigade was divided into three brigades, except Maori Hirotsuka and Guoshikatsuka, and In addition to the three of Ma Zhonglai, each leading a team, the other six main generals are: Yoshiki's vassal lord Aoki, Yoshiki's vassal lord Aoki's lord Aoki's lord Akatsuki, Yoshiki's lord Nakamura Kiyohisa, Hiroshima's lord Asano Tsunato, and Atsushima's lord Kinoshita. Risato, Tomosa Yamauchi, the lord of the Tosa vassal lord.
In this way, a total of 120,000 troops were divided into nine teams, with each team ranging from 10,000 to 15,000 people, and it was convenient to dispatch during the battle.
On July 29, the Chinese army led the overthrow of the army to reach Hikone Castle.
At this time, in front of Hikone Castle, several daimyos who defended the city were arguing about how to resist the attack of the Chinese army, because now both Kumamoto and Osaka have been lost one after another, and the battle process has also been spread to Hikone Castle, the city lord Ii Naotaki believed that the Chinese army's artillery was too powerful, and the city walls of Hikone Castle were not as good as those of Kumamoto and Osaka. Therefore, once you were guarding the city, the Chinese army could calmly arrange artillery outside the city. It would definitely not be able to defend the city. It is better to go out of the city to engage in field battles with the Chinese army, so that the Chinese army's artillery will lose its effect.
Artillery has little effect in field battles, which is common sense among the Japanese. Among the other three, Tsuna Takashi Matsuhira supported Naota Ii's suggestion, while Lai Chang and Masato Inaba still believe that they should stay in the city, after all, the Inverted Army There are 180,000 troops, and even if they go out of the city to fight, their chances of winning are not high.
But at this moment, Tan Jie reported to the city that the only one who came to attack Hikone Castle was the Chinese army, with a total force of less than 50,000. The other anti-straitors stopped thirty miles from Hikone.
The news surprised and happy the four daimyos in Hikone Castle. They didn't understand what happened inside the Shogun Army. Could it be that there was a civil strife? But the Chinese army attacking Hikone Castle now has roughly the same force as the Shogun Army. In this case, Matsuhei Lai Chang and Inaba Masato had no reason to oppose the battle. After all, before this, the strength of the Chinese army was mainly manifested in destroying the city walls with fierce artillery bombardment and blasting, but did not show the field battle. Ability, and according to Japanese people's concepts, whether it is muskets or cannons, they have little effect in field battles.
Therefore, Ii Naotatsu immediately ordered to lead 40,000 troops out of the city and set up a formation to fight the Chinese army in the south of the city. All four Daming went to fight, with Matsuhira Takashi leading 12,000 troops as the left wing, and set up a formation on the east side of Imasu Mountain. Matsuhei Rai Chang led 13,000 troops to the right wing, leaning against Lake Biwa, Naota Ii and Masato Inaba led 15,000 troops to the middle wing, setting up a beautiful goose-shaped formation.
Just as the shogunate army completed its formation, the Chinese army also arrived on the battlefield.
This time, only the Chinese army was dispatched to attack Hikone Castle. It was not that the side of the fall of the sect caused civil strife, but that Shang Yi took the initiative to attack the first formation of the shogunate army, but the forty-seven participating in the fall of the sect All the famous names followed the army to watch the battle.
Because Shang Yi considered that the time left for the desolate side to capture Hikone Castle was not much, and this battle would be decided quickly. It would be best to resolve the battle within one or two days, otherwise the shogunate army might come to the battlefield. In addition, It was the first battle with the shogunate army after the official establishment of the Shogun Alliance. It not only had to win, but also had to win beauty. Only in this way can we boost morale and shock those daimyos who were still a little shaking in their hearts.
Shang Yi knew that before the Seihara War, the Toyotomi army had considerable advantages in military strength and geographical location. It is said that more than two hundred years later, the Japanese Army hired German military expert Major Mitchell as an advisor. When the major saw the situation of Sekigahara's formation in Japan, he said without hesitation: "In this battle, the Western Army (Toyotomi Army) will win." Because all the commanding heights on the battlefield were controlled by Toyotomi Army at that time Yes, in terms of ancient or modern wars, occupying the commanding heights can take the initiative in the war, which is a basic rule that will never change. The main force of the East Army (Tokugawa Army) is basically hindered on the plains and the gentle slopes. On the top, west and south are enemy troops, in a semi-encircled situation. With such a distinctive formation situation, anyone with military knowledge will immediately make the same judgment as Mitchell. .
The main reason for the final failure of the Toyotomi army was internal inconsistency. First, when the war entered the middle stage, Yoshikawa Hiroya, who was stationed in Nangongshan, remained silent and did not send troops to attack the flanks of the Tokugawa army as agreed. Then, he was stationed in Matsuoyama. Kobayakawa Hideaki turned against him and attacked the right wing of the Toyotomi army. It was the rebellion of these two Daming that led to the final failure of the Toyotomi army.
Although the anti-straits have gathered forty-seven daimyos, not all daimyos have truly joined the anti-straits, because many people were completely wrapped up in the beginning and joined the anti-straits. It is hard to say what they will plan once the battle begins. If you turn against the enemy at the last minute or keep your troops in motion, it may affect the overall situation and cause the result of the joint battle between Seihara. Therefore, Shang Yi planned to show the super combat power of the Chinese army in front of these forty-seven famous names, not only to boost morale , and also gave them a warning to consider the consequences of being an enemy of the Chinese army.
This time, Shang Yi sent the entire 11th Army, two brigades of the Ninth Army, plus the Second Brigade of the Guards, with a total force of more than 47,000, including a cavalry regiment and a total force of troop. It was roughly equivalent to the shogunate army stationed in Hikone Castle, and the commander-in-chief of the front line, and Shang Yi led the First Division of the Jaw Guards and other Japanese daimyos to watch the battle in the back formation.
Because Shang Yi estimated that this was another siege battle. According to common sense, the siege side should be three times the strength of the defending side, and the chances of winning were more than half, while the Chinese army attacked the city with the same force Of course, it shows that the Chinese army has strong combat effectiveness.
But Shang Yi did not think about it. The shogunate army did not hide in Hikone City, but took the initiative to go out of the city to fight, which made Shang Yi even more happy. This was even better, and it was just right for these big men to take a look at the Chinese army. The field ability, because of the Chinese army's siege ability, has been confirmed in previous battles, and then displayed it all, and the effect is also discounted.
Cheng Jin immediately ordered the 7th Division of the 11th Army to line up in the middle, the 18th Brigade of the 11th Army and the 2nd Brigade of the Guards to be the left wing, the 9th Army's Special Forces Brigade, the 4th Brigade to be the right wing, the 20th The Cavalry Regiment of the Second Brigade of the Division and the Guards were the General Reserve.
Although the Chinese army entered the battlefield later than the Shogunate Army, they were well-trained and had rich practical experience, so they quickly arranged the formation, which was about 400 steps away from the Shogunate Army's array, and the Chinese army was still deployed. The linear array, the middle lane was extremely wide, almost reaching more than a thousand steps, covering the left and right three armies of the shogunate army, and was extremely thin in depth, with extremely small footprints on the left and right wings, which looked very strange.
Because after the Chinese army landed in Japan, it officially engaged in field battles with the Japanese army for the first time, several of the Shogunate generals, Naota Ii, Takashi Matsuhira, Lai Chang, and Masaharu Inaba, all felt that the Chinese army's way of deploying wars was very good. Strangely, even the forty-seven famous names watching the game in the back team thought that the formation of the Chinese army was indeed too strange, and it completely violated the traditional tactics.
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