Shang Yi's prediction was indeed good. The two sides stationed their troops in the small area of Guanyuan and faced off against each other. Until August 20, no major battle broke out.
The formation of the shogunate army was formed into a triangular formation with Nangong Mountain as the core. Sakai Tadakatsu stationed the shogunate army's main formation on the top of Nangong Mountain, together with the Lord of Matsue Domain Matsudaira Tsunayaka, the Lord of Takamatsu Domain Matsudaira Yoritsune, and the Odawara Domain. The feudal lord Inaba Masanori and other daimyo had a strength of one hundred and six thousand; led by the Owari feudal lord Tokugawa Yoshinao, the Kofu feudal lord Tokugawa Tsunashige, and the Iwatsuki feudal lord Abe Sadaka, with a total of 80,000 troops, they were on the west side of Mount Nangong. The camp at the foot of Mount Mobei became the arrowhead of the shogunate army; the lord of Mito Domain, Tokugawa Mitsuhiro, and the lord of Taiki Domain, Abe Masano, led 65,000 people and formed a formation across the Nakasendo Road to the north of Nangong Mountain as the right wing; Yuki Tokugawa Yorinobu, the lord of the Yin domain, and Masaharu Abe, the lord of the Nitta domain, led an army of 57,000 people. In the south of Nangong Mountain, they formed the left wing of the Ise Street Lower Village.
The main formations of both sides are about five or six thousand meters apart, while the closest armies are only more than three thousand meters apart. It can be said that they are almost in close combat.
Although compared with the last Sekigahara battle, the shogunate army was not inferior to the defeated shogunate army in terms of geographical advantages, and both sides were equally matched. However, this time in the Sekigahara battle, the number of troops participating in the battle and the duration of the confrontation were greatly exceeded.
In the last battle of Sekigahara, the two sides entered the position the night before and started fighting the next day. The battle was over in half a day. Before the war started, the Western Army dispatched 88,200 troops and the Eastern Army dispatched 79,900 troops. After the war began, the actual fighting strength of both sides was: 41,300 Eastern Army and 34,100 Western Army. The actual fighting strength of both sides was small, mainly because most of the Western Army All the daimyo were stationary, and the Eastern Army had to allocate a considerable amount of troops to guard against their sudden participation in the war.
And this time in the battle of Sekigahara, the two sides deployed a total of 500,000 troops. From the time the two sides set up their respective formations in Sekigahara, they have been facing off for more than ten days. It is not known how long they will last.
Of course, during the period of confrontation, there were several small-scale conflicts and battles, but they were all battles involving about a thousand people. Both sides won and lost. The shogunate army took the initiative to attack the daimyo who overthrew the shogunate army. The Chinese Army has only fought twice, and basically only sent one battalion to fight. But on August 17, the largest battle took place between the two sides. Each side mobilized more than 3,000 troops. In the Nineteen Girls Pool in the middle of the battlefield, There was a fierce battle nearby for more than an hour, with no winner or loser. Later, the Chinese army sent a battalion to join the battle. The shogunate army immediately retreated. The overthrow of the shogunate army finally gained a little advantage, but for the next three days, there was no further fighting between the two sides. Through the battle.
However, such a long-term confrontation is obviously very disadvantageous for the shogunate army, because the strength of the shogunate army is nearly twice that of the defeated shogunate army, and the supply line is much longer than that of the defeated shogunate army, so the food consumed is The supplies were more than twice as high as those of the overthrown shogunate. Although the Tokugawa shogunate had some wealth after fifty years of accumulation, such a protracted confrontation could not afford it. And although the side that overthrew the shogunate was not as financially strong as The shogunate army, however, had defeated more than a dozen vassals in the previous stage of the battle and obtained a large amount of supplies from these vassals. Moreover, the supply line was short, and materials could be transported by sea, which was fast and labor-saving. Therefore, in terms of logistics supply, In terms of performance, it was much better than the Shogunate Army.
In addition, the shogunate army still has worries. Although Uesugi Takenori and Date Tsunamune in the north have said that they have made little noise for the time being, it is difficult to predict exactly what actions they will take. Therefore, Hoshina Masayuki, who stayed in Edo, also kept writing to Sakai Tadakatsu. , let him fight quickly.
In fact, Sakai Tadakatsu was not unaware of these circumstances, but he did not dare to go into battle easily, and he had unspeakable reasons. Although the shogunate army had a large number of troops, he was still very afraid of the Chinese army, so he hoped to defeat the shogunate army first. The other daimyo will then concentrate their superior forces to deal with the Chinese army. But now the formation of the overthrown shogunate army is very tight. The Chinese army occupies two high points in the north and south, and can control the overall situation. If the shogunate army attacks other daimyo, it will inevitably be defeated by the Chinese army. The army attacked from both sides.
As for launching a precession against the Chinese army on both wings, Sakai Tadakatsu did not have the courage. After all, he had also led a team to participate in the Central Plains War. He knew that once the Chinese army had deployed its defense line, it would be difficult to break through, not to mention that the Chinese army was still The formation on the mountain occupies an absolute advantageous location. If they want to break through the Chinese army's position, the shogunate army will pay a lot of casualties. The morale of the shogunate army is already low. If it encounters heavy casualties again, won't it make things worse? Therefore, Sakai Tadakatsu was also very entangled and in a dilemma.
Of course, Sakai Tadakatsu is not doing nothing. For a period of time, he has been sending out small forces to lure the overthrown Tokugawa army into battle. He hopes to draw the overthrown Tokugawa army out of the control area of the Chinese army, and then suddenly increase the number of troops. Win a few battles to boost morale, but the overthrowing army is also very cautious. Basically, I will send out as many people as you come. Even if the shogunate army retreats, it will never pursue them. And when the critical moment of the battle is reached, the Chinese army will send troops. To assist in the battle, this kind of mountainous and dense forest is actually very suitable for the Chinese army to fight, because it is difficult for the shogunate army to detect the whereabouts of the Chinese army. When they touch the battlefield, there will suddenly be a burst of shooting and bombing, so the shogunate army has almost no chance to take advantage. We fought several battles without any difficulty.
On the other hand, just as Shang Yi expected, Sakai Tadakatsu also played the card of instigating rebellion. During the confrontation between the two sides, Sakai Tadakatsu continued to send people to get in touch with the major figures in the fallen army, and to deal with them. Xiao was righteous, moved them with affection, and lured them with benefits, hoping to persuade them to support the Tokugawa shogunate again. After the war began, they either stood still or switched sides to fight back. Of course, they may have obtained various benefits, territories, official positions, and marriages. Wait, everything that the Tokugawa shogunate could get their hands on was thrown away.
But before going to war, Shang Yi also did enough homework in this regard, giving a severe warning to all the big names on the fallen side. Now it has finally had an effect. Some of the fallen big names have sent Tadakatsu Sakai to Some of the envoys avoided seeing them, and some even simply arrested the envoys and sent them to Shangyi's camp in Sasao Mountain to express their position. Therefore, Sakai Tadakatsu's counterattack offensive was all ineffective.
After Sakai Tadakatsu learned these results in the camp of Nangong Mountain, he was so angry that he stamped his feet and beat his chest, constantly cursing those big names, calling them all traitors, Japanese traitors, traitors, betraying Japan, and surrendering to China. At the same time, he felt in his heart I am also very depressed. Didn't Tokugawa Ieyasu use this trick to instigate Yoshikawa Hiroie and Kobayakawa Hideaki in advance, and it was Sekijian who won the Sekigahara battle, but why couldn't he use it when it was his turn? You must know that you still have a moral advantage.
In fact, the main reason why the big names on the side of the fall did not accept Sakai Tadakatsu's instigation of rebellion was not the alarm bell that Shang Yi sounded before the war, but the current general trend. All the big names also saw it very clearly. On the side of the Tokugawa shogunate Shuishian lacked confidence. In fact, in the Sekigahara battle that year, before the war began, Yoshikawa Hiroie and Kobayakawa Hideaki were not ready to immediately turn against the Eastern Army. Instead, they waited to see the success or failure of both sides to see which side was stronger. If the Western Army had an absolute advantage at that time, they would also fall to the Western Army.
Therefore, even though Tokugawa Ieyasu had no advantage in terms of weather, location, and people, he still decided to take the initiative to attack the Western Army, just to show his strong side to these uncertain daimyo, even if this strength was hard. Hold up.
The most typical scene is that when the war reached a stalemate, the Western Army even had a slight advantage. At this time, Hideaki Kobayakawa who was stationed at Matsuo Mountain still stood still. Both the Eastern and Western armies frequently sent people to persuade Hideaki Kobayakawa to send troops to help. However, Ishida Mitsunari, the leader of the private army, had a different way of rescuing Kobayakawa Hideaki. At this time, Tokugawa Ieyasu made a surprising move: he ordered his iron artillery team to shoot at Kobayakawa Hideaki's team. The result was exactly This move prompted Hideaki Kobayakawa to make up his mind to defect to the Eastern Army.
Regarding Tokugawa Ieyasu's move, later generations generally interpreted it as that Tokugawa Ieyasu used it to intimidate Kobayakawa Hideaki and urge him to rebel, or even to make a desperate move, or that Tokugawa Ieyasu was very lucky, because if this happened to anger Hideaki Kobayakawa, he would If it falls to the Western Army, Tokugawa Ieyasu will be finished.
But it was not the case, because the battle situation was so intertwined that it was difficult to distinguish who was superior and who was inferior. This was Tokugawa Ieyasu deliberately sending a tough signal to Kobayakawa Hideaki, saying that he was already sure of victory in this battle and did not care whether Kobayakawa Hideaki or not. If Kobayakawa Hideaki doesn't make a decision, you will also be punished. As a result, Ishida Mitsunari's soft words and pleas have no effect, but Tokugawa Ieyasu's violent behavior has shocked Kobayakawa Hideaki, and the general trend of the Sekigahara war has been Pass it back this way.
In fact, this is the same reason as Shang Yi used extremely stern words to beat those big names before the war, because for people who are not firm in their stance and are just like grasshoppers, it is better to use tough words instead of pleading with nice words. By using other methods, it can better understand the direction of its swing.
Of course, Shang Yi was backed by the powerful strength of the Chinese army, while Tokugawa Ieyasu was completely forceful and showed a tough attitude. This also fully demonstrated Tokugawa Ieyasu's amazing strategy and extraordinary courage. Therefore, Tokugawa Ieyasu Although there was an element of luck in winning the Sekigahara battle, it was definitely not a fluke.
It's just that now Sakai Tadakatsu doesn't understand the reason at all, and he can't even take a tough stance. He has a huge force, but he doesn't dare to attack the Chinese army. He only dares to defeat the shogunate's daimyo. As soon as the Chinese army goes out to fight, the shogunate army He retreated immediately. This also made it clear to all the daimyo that he was afraid of the Chinese army. Who would dare to surrender to the shogunate army? Although Sakai Tadakatsu insisted on morality and made a big fuss, in the face of interests, it is useless to talk about morality, and The Chinese Army was not bad at all. It only targeted the Tokugawa Shogunate. Not only did it carry the banner of revenge for the Toyotomi clan, but it also had an edict from the emperor. It was no worse than the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Just when Sakai Tadakatsu felt helpless about the current situation, a piece of news that almost made him despair came to the shogunate army camp in Nangong Mountain: Kofu Castle had been lost.
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