June 22, the fourth year of Qing'an.
Echigo, on the south bank of the Arakawa River, on the territory of the Kurokawa Domain.
"The Supreme Emperor...Onboard! The Supreme Emperor...Onboard!"
On the surrounding battlefields, another wave of louder cheers from the Kobuin Army rang out. The cheers reached the extreme, sweeping from both sides of the Arakawa River to the entire territory of the Kurokawa Domain adjacent to the Murakami Domain!
At the same time as the cheers, there was the sound of horse hooves, the sound of guns and the cries and howls of the defeated soldiers!
On the south bank of the Arakawa River, on the battlefield where the two sides had fought fiercely for a day and night, the corpses of both sides were densely covered in a large area, and blood stains that had changed color could be seen everywhere on the river beach. Around noon on the 20th, three northern army infantry battalions led by Kusunoki Masayuki, with the northern samurai as the backbone, crossed the Arakawa River and formed a three-sided hollow formation with their backs to the Arakawa River.
The phalanx had just been set up, and before Emperor Kobuin could cross the river, the Banfang Army commanded by Masayuki Hoshina and the allied forces of the Echigo clans began a "half-crossing attack."
The battle between the two sides was very fierce and bloody from the beginning!
Like Kobuin, Hoshina Masayuki invested three battalions of Fanfang troops at the beginning. With the support of 8 6-pound cannons, he gathered together with some of the vassal coalition forces to launch wave after wave of fierce attacks.
At the beginning, the three battalions of the Northern Army commanded by Kusunoki Masaki were relatively passive because the artillery did not cross the river, and were beaten by eight 6-pound cannons!
If it weren't for the fact that these northern troops all carried shovels and were good at digging fortifications (Zhu Cijiong gave them shovels to facilitate digging trenches to siege Japanese castles), and when they saw something was wrong, they hurriedly built breastworks. The troops commanded by Nanmu were very capable. May have been defeated by Hoshina's Banfang army.
After the 12 6-pound cannons of the Northern Army were transported across the Arakawa River, the losses of Hoshina Masayuki's Banfang Army and the Echigo Domain Army began to increase. After each wave of offensives, corpses were left on the ground. Because the attack caused too much damage, on the night of the 21st, Hoshina Masayuki had to give up the fierce attack and instead built fortifications around the hollow phalanx of the Northern Army.
When the morning of June 21 came, the battle between the two sides on the south bank of the Arakawa River fell into a stalemate. The northern army built a pontoon bridge on the Arakawa River to send more troops to the hollow phalanx on the south bank.
Hoshina Masayuki ordered his subordinates to reinforce fortifications outside the hollow phalanx of the northern army. At the same time, he also ordered the mobilization of reinforcements from Takata Domain, Nagaoka Domain, Shinhada Domain, etc. to support the Arakawa River battlefield. Hoshina also sent an envoy to Edo, requesting the shogunate to immediately send troops to Ueda Domain, Numata Domain, Matsushiro Domain, Kawanakajima Domain and Etchu Toyama Domain to prevent Emperor Kobuin from rapidly expanding his territory after winning the Battle of Echigo.
However, Masayuki Hoshina's deployment was still a little slow.
On the morning of June 22, Hoshina Masayuki, who was having a headache due to the fierce battle on the Arakawa River front line, received an urgent letter from the Takada clan... The Echuchu Toyama clan next door to the Takada clan came out What a disaster.
Takada Domain's Uozu Port had been attacked by the rebels of Emperor Kobuin from the sea two days earlier.
Because Toyama Domain was unprepared, Uozu Port was declared a failure that day!
Because this Toyama clan is a branch of Maeda's million-koku domain (with a territory of 100,000 koku), and the expansion project of the main city Toyama Castle progressed very slowly due to lack of funds, it took more than ten years to complete the construction. Therefore, the feudal lord Maeda Toshiji could not move in, so he simply took most of his retainers to live in the Kaga Kanazawa Domain (owned by the Maeda clan).
As a result, when Zhu Cijiong led his troops to land at Uozu Port, there were not many samurai in Toyama Domain. This domain with 100,000 stone territory and an unfinished main city was completely controlled by the northern army commanded by Zhu Cijiong in a short period of time!
After the news of the fall of Toyama Domain reached the Arakawa River Front, Hosuka Masayuki was really panicked!
Because this time he was attacked from both sides!
Toyama Domain is right next to Takata Domain. If the northern army that lands on Toyama Domain invades Takata Domain, Takata Domain may not be able to defend it with the thousands of men at hand.
And once Takada Domain is lost, how can we fight here in Echigo?
In addition, there is a large but weak Maeda million stone to the west of Toyama Domain - including most of Etchu (Etchu has 530,000 stone, of which 100,000 stone belongs to Toyama Domain and the rest belongs to Kaga Domain), the entire Noto and most of Kaga (the other branch of the Kaga Domain, the Daishoji Domain, has 70,000 koku in Kaga), all belong to the Kaga Domain, with a total of 1,025,000 koku. If you include the two branch vassals, there will be another Add 170,000 stone...it's almost 1.2 million stone!
Because the fiefdom was too large and the territory was close to Kinai, the Tokugawa shogunate had always been worried about the Kaga Domain, and the Kaga Domain did not dare to develop its own armed forces. Therefore, the Kaga Domain's military force has always been relatively weak, and it has not followed the shogunate in training a new army.
Today, the Kaga Domain's army is almost the same as when Maeda Toshiie was alive... This million-koku domain simply cannot withstand the attack of the powerful Koibu rebels!
Once Maeda's million stones were destroyed, Emperor Kobuin's territory would be only one Echizen away from Kinai.
The several feudal lords in Echizen were also unable to resist.
Therefore, after Masayuki Hoshina learned that the Toyama Domain in Ezhong had fallen, Fang Cun was already in chaos. How could he dare to continue fighting, so he had to gather his troops and start retreating.
And how could Emperor Kobuin, Uesugi Tsunakatsu, and Kusugi Masayuki allow Hoshina Masayuki to retreat safely?
They immediately organized a pursuit, and the pursuers followed Masayuki Hoshina's defeated troops and started killing them.
They fought from the territory of the Kurokawa clan to the territory of the Nagaoka clan, still chasing Masayuki Hosuka and refusing to let go... Finally, they fought all the way to the vicinity of Takada Castle, and the offensive was temporarily stopped because of darkness.
But at this time, the northern army that landed at Uozu Port had also approached Takada Castle.
Seeing that Takada did not defend, Masayuki Hoshina had no choice but to abandon the Banfang army stationed in several places, and withdrew to Kawanakajima Castle in Northern Shinano with two to three thousand people and the Lord of Takada Domain, Matsudaira Mitsuyoshi...
On the first day of July, Emperor Kobuin rebelled, and Japan's first poor feudal lord joined the rebellion in response to the Emperor. News that Murakami, Kuroda, Nagaoka, Shinbada, Takata and other feudal lords had fallen successively spread to Kyoto, a place of right and wrong. land.
In the Zichen Palace, the face of the Emperor of Houshuiweiyuan has never been so serious as it is today.
Emperor Shohito, Tokugawa Noribo, Itakura Shigemune, Kujo Dobo and others began to argue quietly.
"Of course the righteousness belongs to us! Now we should immediately revoke all the titles and salaries of Seiuxingzi, demote her to a commoner, and then declare her a rebel to set the record straight!"
"But how can the emperor deprive him of the title of emperor who abdicated the throne to him?"
"Then the emperor at Houshuiweiyuan will make the announcement!"
"But Kobuin is also the emperor... If the proclamation of the academy is greater than the imperial edict, then to whom does the greatest righteousness in Japan belong?"
"Of course it belongs to the Emperor of Housuiweiyuan!"
"No, the greatest honor should belong to His Majesty the Emperor!"
Everyone, you said something and I argued with each other, but no one was willing to give in.
"Hmm," the Emperor of Gomizuoin finally spoke, "Minister Mito Zuo, what do you mean?"
The father-in-law is dead and has no meaning anymore.
However, Mito Yorifusa cannot reveal the news of the general's death... The general has already stated that he will pretend to be alive for three years.
Now Tokugawa Yorifusa can only pretend that Tokugawa Iemitsu is still alive.
Mito Yorifusa asked again: "My lord, of course, means that Kobuin, Uesugi Tsunakatsu and others are traitors to the country!
Therefore, righteousness must be in our hands! "
(End of chapter)
