"What the hell..."
At this time, the commander of the third Hatamoto Division, Asai Masatoshi, faced the strange formation in front of him and couldn't help but complain over and over again.
Imagawa Yoshima's banner formed a very dense formation - Asai Masatoshi had never seen such a dense queue in his life, it was just like refugees queuing up to receive relief food. Moreover, they were not equipped with expensive and sharp samurai swords, but instead each had a long gun - a weapon that could only be used by ashigaru who had no money to buy equipment. How could Imagawa Yoshima use it to equip the Hatamoto team? Are you really so poor that you have nothing left?
But the fighting power of these beggar-like Hatamoto team that just broke out was almost terrifying - the third Hatamoto team had stopped attacking at this moment, looking at the forest of spears with lingering fear - and the people who died in front of the forest of spears. More than a dozen of our own flag bases.
When Asai Masatoshi first met this banner team, he mistook them for Okuhirabe's troops - because the reserve team was so poor that they only had spears, and it looked like they were from Mikawa. So he immediately moved his troops to meet them, intending to close the distance with the banner team and start a hand-to-hand battle - his judgment was not wrong. Although the spearmen can attack first because of their longer weapons, and because of the direct attack method of the spears, they can form a denser queue. But once a knife-wielding soldier gets close, the spear can only be used as a stick, and a one-sided massacre will begin. Therefore, the pike team often needs to be equipped with a considerable number of sword and shield men to protect the pike soldiers from close assaults - but Imagawa Yoshizhin's banner team is not equipped with this type of unit.
Just when Asai Masatoshi charged towards the fish-belly troops in his imagination, something unexpected happened. Following a few commands, the spear team in front of them lunged almost uniformly at the same time. The airtight array poked out the same airtight spears, almost like poisonous snakes spitting messages, and the dozen or so people rushing at the front were stunned. Hatamoto was stabbed to death instantly. Asai Masatoshi himself was easily hit by the attack, and he only retreated after blocking left and right. The troops behind him stopped one by one as they looked at the bloody scene.
"How can you do it so neatly..." Masatoshi Asai watched in stunned silence as Imagawa Yoshima's banner unit stood up neatly with its guns again after a few orders. Dozens or hundreds of soldiers were as neatly organized as one person.
Just when Asai Masatoshi was stunned, a group of soldiers from the Hatamoto Nibi circled around to the south of Imagawa Yoshima's banner, intending to attack the deadly flank of the spear forest - unlike the agile soldiers who used swords, the battle formation spears were very clumsy. , it is extremely difficult to mobilize on the spot. Once someone touches the flank, the battle is basically over.
However--
"Columns 5 to 10, everyone - turn right!"
As a command sounded, the right half of the Imagawa Yoshima Banner's troops seemed to have been cut off from the main army. All the soldiers held their spears and pointed to the sky. Then, with a turn of their feet, half of the troops turned around without any hesitation. to the south. The small group of soldiers who rushed over were dumbfounded - the most battle formation adjustments they had ever experienced were to take a unit as a whole and chaotically lead it to the other side and then form a formation, such as this clean and neat three-way rotation of individual soldiers. Dharma is simply unheard of for them. Issuing such an order hastily on the battlefield can easily cause chaos and collapse of the troops!
"Stop it! Stop it!" Asai Masatoshi saw Imagawa Yoshima's banner team dropped their spears and assumed the same posture as before, and shouted hurriedly, but it was already too late.
"Prepare-stab!"
As the command was given again, dozens of spears shot out in unison. The roundabout group of soldiers could not block it at all, and many people were stabbed to death by random shots - no one had a chance to get close.
"this……"
At this moment, even the soldiers of Hatamoto No. 2 Bei were dumbfounded. When they relaxed, they actually gave Ii Ibei a chance to counterattack.
"This is like a hedgehog, untouchable." Asai Masatoshi couldn't think of a solution for a while and started to worry, "What should we do if they turn around and fight back?"
·
But at this moment, the sound of horse hooves sounded behind him. Asai Masatoshi turned around to look, only to find that Imagawa Yoshimoto had already ridden his horse to the rear of the formation at some point.
"Second and third archers come out and assemble!" Imagawa Yoshimoto raised the folding fan in his hand and ordered loudly.
Seeing the governor's arrival in person, the archers in the banner team did not dare to neglect, and 200 archers quickly came to Imagawa Yoshimoto's horse.
"The first row squats, the second row squats half, aim to the west, pull the string, and prepare for a horizontal shot! The third row, raise the bow to the second position, and prepare to shoot! Favor the wind!" Imagawa Yoshimoto ordered the archers and said to Asai Masatoshi Shouted, "Asai, spread your troops north and south!"
"Yes!" Although he knew that rashly dividing the troops into two halves on the battlefield might cause serious chaos and even make it impossible to gather the troops, Asai Masatoshi immediately followed the instructions. As soon as his soldiers dispersed, Imagawa Yoshima's banner unit, which was free of obstacles, marched toward the east at a neat pace, trying to penetrate Masatoshi Asai's troops directly, and then swept southward to the flank of Nibi Bei.
Until they saw the 200 archers who had been waiting for a long time behind the scattered third preparer.
"The only way to deal with spears is with arrows."
Imagawa Yoshimoto shook his fingers towards Imagawa Yoshima's main team.
After giving the order, arrows came like locusts. Due to the weight and length of the spear, the spearman never carried a shield. The longer battle spears are not as flexible as swords and cannot be used to deflect arrows. When faced with bow and arrow attacks, spearmen are the most helpless unit, bar none.
These bannermen who had just killed more than twenty elite soldiers in the battle were so vulnerable to random arrows. Imagawa Yoshima's finances are stretched thin, and he relies entirely on the proceeds from the Imagawa clan's warehouse in the Yuanjiang territory. Recruiting 300 soldiers is already the limit, and naturally there is no way to equip them with sophisticated armor. Such a close salvo shot down more than 30 soldiers in an instant.
"Retreat quickly! Retreat quickly!" Seeing his precious flagon falling to the arrows like wheat, Imagawa Yoshima felt his heart bleed and shouted, ordering his men to retreat.
"Horses, follow me!" Seeing Imagawa Yoshima retreat, Imagawa Yoshimoto did not hesitate to lead the Imagawa family's horses to pursue them. The horsemen are all elite warriors who are skilled in archery and archery. However, Hayasaka Nao, Kira Usei and Taro Shen Kentaro did not hold bows, so they carefully rode their horses in front of Imagawa Yoshimoto to prevent a sudden cold arrow from attacking.
Imagawa Yoshimoto squinted his eyes and took aim, then bent his bow and nocked an arrow himself, shouting at the back of the retreating Imagawa Yoshima Hatakemoto:
"Tailwind, up one, let go!"
Another round of arrows struck, and Imagawa Yoshima's banner fell down to 8 more people who could not escape.
"The shooting is so accurate. This is attacking a moving target on horseback!" Imagawa Yoshima's bannermen complained after being attacked. Apparently they did not expect the horse archers to have such high accuracy.
"Assemble the archers of Okuhirabe and Iibei to support!" Imagawa Yoshima shouted for help, but before the reinforcements of Okuhirabe and Iibei arrived, his banner team suffered two more rounds of random arrows, and finally managed to get rid of them. Imagawa Yoshimoto's horsemen were forced to retreat.
"It's difficult..." Imagawa Yoshima looked at the situation in front of him and knew in his heart that this battle must be lost. In the same way, more than 7,000 people fought against more than 7,000 people, and more than 2,400 soldiers fought against more than 2,400 soldiers. However, he was defeated in such a miserable way. Every front was at a disadvantage. It was only a matter of time before Imagawa Yoshimoto was finally defeated. In less than a morning, the battle that was originally determined to be won has turned into a huge defeat, and the prestige that was finally accumulated will probably be wiped out.
Just when Imagawa Yoshima gave up turning defeat into victory, and was thinking about how to withdraw as many troops as possible, the smoke was lit again on the distant Zijiao Mountain, and the concentration of the smoke was far greater than the last time - last time When the smoke ignited, floods broke out at the Kurama River and Inikawa River at the same time, overwhelming Imagawa Yoshima's army as they were crossing the river. So what does the bigger smoke this time mean?
Imagawa Yoshima looked around the battlefield with some horror, but did not see any adjustments to Imagawa Yoshimoto's deployment. It wasn't until the subordinates behind him began to exclaim sooner or later that Imagawa Yoshima turned his head and looked in the direction behind him.
In the Forest of Thoughts they passed by on their way, a force of nearly a thousand people suddenly appeared, including more than 300 combat soldiers, and their flag was the crest of the Imagawa family, a clan that is as famous as the Asahina family and is good at fighting—— Okabe Zuo Sanba. This new force waited all morning, always ambushing Imagawa Yoshima's army on its way back, waiting to deliver a fatal blow when the battle situation was decided - Imagawa Yoshimoto dared to send one-eighth of his troops to the enemy's side. Being outside the battle situation also shows his extraordinary confidence.
After Okabe Bei appeared, Imagawa Yoshima's army on the entire battlefield suddenly lost all morale. Without waiting for Imagawa Yoshizhin's order, various wealthy families began to leave the battlefield on their own, trying to escape by bypassing Okabe Bei. However, Imagawa Yoshima's main army is located between the Kurama River and Inikawa. It has become a trap and cannot be avoided no matter what.
"My third brother and his hardcore Horikoshi Bei and Ii Ibei are all here, and the main force of the small wealthy family of Yueji is also here." Imagawa Yoshimoto looked at the main army who was trapped in the middle and had no way out, and finally relaxed like a victory, " Annihilate them and the rebellion in Yuanjiang will be over.”
"The heads of several wealthy families in Mikawa are also here." Himura Hiroyuki pointed at Okuhirabe and Todabe who were desperately trying to cross the river to escape, as well as Kirabe who was trapped near the swamp with no way out, "Catch them. You can also send a message to the southeast of Sanhe."
"Let Sakyo Okabe march." Imagawa Yoshimoto signaled Akatori Main to give Okabe Matsuna the order, "Encircle and destroy the enemy's main force. Don't let anyone go."
Just when the Imagawa Clan troops on all fronts were ready to pursue the pursuit, something unexpected happened. I saw a few cavalry riding straight from the east in the distance. When I walked in, I found that they were all covered in blood, with several arrows stuck in their bodies and on the horses they sat on. The leader was none other than Taiyuan Xuezhai's trusted ninja Tu Yuanjing.
Tsuchizune rushed straight in front of Imagawa Yoshimoto's horse. When he turned over and dismounted, he knelt down and said tremblingly, "Your Highness, it's not good. The Hojo family seems to have reached an armistice agreement with the Takeda family. Recently, Thousands of people crossed the Fuji River and attacked. Master Yuksai couldn't escape in time. He didn't have time to retreat into Kamabahara Castle. He was already surrounded in the rock stronghold by the river! The Hojo family's attack was fierce, and the rock stronghold was not reliable. Master Yukssai was afraid that Just in the blink of an eye! There are more than 700 people in the village including Kotsubei, Anharabei, Ogibei, Ichinomiyabei, Hasegawabei and Yuibibei! I will fight to the death to break through and ask for help from His Highness!"
Imagawa Yoshimoto was stunned for a moment, and the next moment he came to his senses, he issued an order to withdraw his troops: "Stop the pursuit of the whole army! The Toe rebels have no combat power, leaving only Matsui Bei, Ogasawara Bei and Shinno Bei to defend." But. Everyone else, follow me and come back to support Fujigawa!"
Na Furunoji Yutaka knew that his family's status was sensitive, so he had been cautious in his words and deeds since he sent out troops. He did not express any opinions and followed Imagawa Yoshimoto silently. But seeing that Imakawa Yoshimoto was really going to withdraw his troops, he couldn't sit still anymore and hurriedly pulled the reins of his horse, "Fourth brother! Fourth brother! The situation is very good now. As long as I pursue him for even two more hours, Imagawa Yoshimoto will win." It’s really over, and the Yuanjiang River will be calmed down! Think twice!”
"How can that small poyan village stop 10,000 people?" Imagawa Yoshimoto, however, couldn't help but throw away Furunoji Yutaka's hand, and took the lead in galloping towards the east, "Now every second counts, how can we dare to delay two hours? If we delay any longer, , I’m afraid that smelly old man’s life will be lost.”
