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(Author's note: The map of the Battle of Yubihe has been uploaded to the book circle and book review area! The terrain of this battle is relatively complex. It is recommended that book friends read the map in conjunction with it! If you want to view previous maps, please select the author in the book circle to comment. column)
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At 3:30 a.m. on September 28, the fifth year of Tianwen (1536), the Imagawa army arrived at the foot of the southern foot of Hamaishi Mountain and officially entered the narrowest section of the Tokaido official road. To the left on the north side are majestic mountains and dense forests, and to the right on the south side is the endless dark ocean. Walking in such terrain, the speed cannot be increased no matter what. Not to mention that in the mountain forest on an autumn morning, the thick fog severely restricted the field of vision. In the thick fog, Imagawa Yoshimoto's mood was also very gloomy.
Growing up, although he often contradicted and teased Taiyuan Xuezhai, he respected his unruly, fair-weather teacher more than anyone else. Even if Imagawa Yoshimoto doesn't care about his teachings, he will take them into his heart.
Why don't you let me get close?
Is it too late? Was it the last signal sent before the fall of Yanzhai? Or do you think, teacher, that the Imagawa Army who came from afar cannot defeat the Hojo Army?
At the beginning of the hour, the flag corps, the vanguard of the Imagawa Army, arrived at the foot of Mount Jingasa. And here, they also met the messenger soldiers from the Fuji River for the first time after the Earth Atomic Sutra. I saw an orderly soldier carrying the Umohara family flag emerging from the thick fog covered in blood, with seven or eight arrows stuck in his back. His horse was covered with bruises even when he sat down. He almost relied on willpower to hold on to the Imagawa military formation. forward. The moment he saw the red bird horse mark, he fell off the horse with a sudden force.
"It's the flag pen of His Highness Kamabahara, Omura Yohei." Himura Yohei recognized the messenger at a glance, "I recognize him, he is a great warrior."
Nao Hayasaka and Kentaro Tamaki quickly dismounted and helped Omura Yohei over. That Furunoji Yutaka poured a glass of cold water on his face, finally making him regain consciousness.
"The main hall..." Omura Yohei raised his head tremblingly and looked at Imagawa Yoshimoto. Blood bubbles kept coming out of his mouth. It was difficult to even say a complete sentence, and he said intermittently:
"Go and save... Puyuan Castle and Fuji Village... Tens of thousands of troops attacked overnight... They can't withstand it... They will die soon..."
Before he finished speaking, Omura Yohei tilted his head and died.
"Your Highness, speed up! If Kamuhara Castle and Fuji Village are lost, it will be difficult for us to run away!" Akai Kuroko became anxious when he saw this, and even forgot the honorific, "Your Highness is stunned here. What are we doing? It used to be easy to get back on such a narrow road, but when the enemy comes from behind and stabs us in the butt, if all of us are crowded on this official road, at least half of us will be killed."
"Yes, Your Highness, while Puyuan Castle and Fuji Village are still holding on, as long as we arrive in time and cooperate inside and outside, we will be able to defeat the exhausted enemy troops who have been attacking the city overnight!" Feimura Yangyu clenched his fist and said fiercely. road.
However, Imagawa Yoshimoto's eyes still fell on the order soldier who died heroically, looking at the shocking eight feather arrows on his back. He couldn't imagine how strong his willpower was to support him in running all the way here after suffering many serious injuries. He couldn't bear to see this cruel scene, so he took a step forward, ready to pull out all the eight feather arrows stuck in his body.
However, after pulling out two of them, he felt slightly that something was not quite right. If it were normal, he probably wouldn't think much about it. But when he thought of the "don't get close" signal sent by Taiyuan Xuezhai before, Imagawa Yoshimoto couldn't help but be more careful.
He raised his hand and pulled out two more arrows, vaguely having a bad guess in his mind.
So when he pulled out the next two arrows, he was almost concentrating. When the last two feather arrows were left, he couldn't help but carefully look at the wounds where the arrows had penetrated into his armor and body. Then he closed his eyes, slowly pulled out the feathered arrow, emptied all his senses, and held his breath to feel the sticky feeling at the moment when the feathered arrow was pulled out of the body.
"What's wrong, Your Highness?" Kira Usei noticed something strange about Imagawa Yoshimoto.
After a while, Imagawa Yoshimoto's face turned pale.
"To be honest, I have some experience with archery. If what I felt just now is correct, those eight feather arrows were shot into his body by the same person standing at almost the same distance."
"Why did Your Highness say that?" Hayasaka Naochi didn't see it at all.
"Although these arrows deliberately changed the angle and force, the wounds left on the body are all similar." Imagawa Yoshimoto pointed to the wounds on Omura Yohei's back that were still bleeding, "They are all slightly different. Twist it a little to the right.”
"I have to say that there is, but you can't tell it without looking carefully." Kentaro Tianchen squinted his eyes for a while, and then whispered.
"I can't tell even if I look carefully." Ji Liang Weicheng stared for a while with his eyes wide open, and finally shook his head, "Can you explain anything?"
"It means that this person has an unconscious habit when shooting arrows. He will slightly twist the arrow feathers when pulling the string. This little habit when shooting is different for everyone and it is difficult to imitate. These eight arrow wounds can be like this Being close can only mean that it was done by the same person." Imagawa Yoshimoto's expression became more solemn, "And this slight twist when the arrow leaves the string can be reflected on the wound, which can only mean that the shooting distance is not long. , only about 10 feet at most.”
"How could a messenger be shot eight times in a row by the same enemy at the same distance when he was making a desperate breakout?"
Imagawa Yoshimoto said it this way, no matter how stupid he is, he will understand what he wants to say.
"Continue to march, don't show any abnormality, and bury Omura Yohei immediately." Imagawa Yoshimoto ordered as he mounted his horse, pretending to arrange ordinary military affairs, but he said shocking words to the attendants and horses beside him:
"Because there may be ambushes at the southern foot of Hamaishi Mountain and Jinkasa Mountain next to us, so we have to act as normal to avoid being discovered."
After a moment of shock, everyone's expressions suddenly turned serious.
"What do you mean, Your Highness?" Feicun Yangyu asked in a low voice.
"Everything is just my speculation. But I think His Highness Kamabahara may have surrendered to the enemy, and Omura Yohei was sent to defraud us under the instruction of the Hojo family." Imagawa Yoshimoto said slowly while sorting out his thoughts, " The reason why my teacher saw the smoke signal coming from Puyuan Castle and immediately lit the smoke and told us not to get close is because he had already seen Puhara Castle surrendering to the enemy and was afraid that we would be fooled."
"Whether Kamahara Castle issued an "emergency" message or Omura Yohei said, "The enemies are besieging Kamahara Castle and Fuji Village, let us go to rescue them quickly," they all wanted to send us a message - all the Hojo troops are still concentrated. On the banks of the Fuji River, our city is in danger. In other words, His Highness Kamahara and the Hojo family behind His Highness want to lead our troops to the Fuji River as soon as possible. And their main force may not be on the banks of the Fuji River at all, but has arrived long ago. There are ambushes set up in the mountains and forests around us, waiting for us to rush in and then rush out, annihilating us on this narrow official road."
After Imagawa Yoshimoto said these words, several people around him looked with fear at Mount Jingasa to his side, the southern foot of Mount Hamaishi behind him, the endless mountains and forests in front and behind, and the small small town sandwiched between the mountains and the sea. official way. The forest was so eerily silent that it made people shiver.
"If that's the case, why didn't His Highness lead the army to retreat immediately? Are you seeking death?" Akai Heigao tried hard to control his loud voice and spoke in a thin voice, but it seemed very funny, "The officialdom we are in It's too narrow, and there's no way to line up or command and mobilize. Moreover, we are all in a marching column now, and all the armor is in the hands of the auxiliary soldiers. We haven't even finished putting on the armor. If there is an ambush in the surrounding mountains, they will come out now , we are at a dead end.”
"It's too late to retreat now. One-third of our troops have already entered the ambush circle. Once we show our intention to retreat, the ambush troops at the southern foot of Hamashi Mountain and Jinli Mountain will be killed immediately, and one-third of our troops will be killed." The strength of the troops is gone, and the morale of the army is also broken. Can we still fight with 35% casualties? I have never heard of such an army."
Imagawa Yoshimoto replied in a low voice, "So we can't retreat, we can only continue to move forward."
"I guess that the Hojo family wanted to catch a big fish in this battle and annihilate the main force of the Imagawa family in one fell swoop. If they just wanted to defeat us, they could have sent out an ambush long ago. There is no need to let us go so far and send another The messengers from the Umohara family are here to lead us deeper."
When a catastrophe was approaching, Imagawa Yoshimoto was much calmer than a few months ago. He analyzed methodically, "If they want to complete their work in one battle, then the Hojo family will definitely want to lead our Imagawa army to the deepest point before launching an ambush and encirclement and annihilation." We are all in the army. I used to walk here a lot when I helped my teacher buy drinks, and I am very familiar with it. The most suitable ambush location is not the southern foot of Hamaishi Mountain and Jinkasa Mountain where we are now, but Nakao Mountain 10 miles ahead. It’s very close to Puyuan Castle, and the official road is the narrowest.”
"If I were the Hojo family, I would ambush when the Imagawa family's vanguard reached there. I would also ambush after the entire Imagawa family entered a narrow section of the road, instead of like now, two-thirds of them are still there. The troops are dragged to the west of the southern foot of Hamaishi Mountain. In other words, before our vanguard reaches Nakao Mountain and before our entire army enters the ambush circle, the Hojo family may not attack. But as soon as we show our intention to retreat, When the Hojo family's ambush soldiers realize that the ambush has been exposed, they will definitely move out immediately. So we can't retreat, we can only keep advancing."
"His Highness is really an expert, and I can't understand what he said at all." Himura Hiroyuki's face was full of black lines, and he did not forget to praise Imagawa Yoshimoto, "I just know that there may be ambushes in the mountains and forests ahead, so what? Why are we still moving forward? Aren’t more people in the ambush circle by then? No one can escape."
"No, although the road ahead is very narrow, it is not all a narrow road between mountains and seas." Imagawa Yoshimoto recalled the road he had walked countless times, "Crossing the Wase River from the foot of Mount Jinkasa Continuing eastward and 5 miles further, you can see the Yuiga River. The Yuiga River is a large river that flows into Suruga Bay from Mount Hayashi in the northeast. It merges with the Fanko River flowing from north to south at the lower reaches, impacting out A small piece of plain is called Yubi Plain. There is enough spacious terrain to deploy troops."
"What your Highness means is..." Himura Hiroyuki seemed to understand what Imagawa Yoshimoto was thinking.
"Yes, we simply threw everything aside and the whole army continued to move forward. We pretended to be walking towards the Nakao Mountain-Kabara Castle line. In fact, we suddenly turned north and entered the Yui Plain formation, and then turned back to meet the Hojo troops who ambushed us."
"But if we lose, our entire army will be locked up in the Yubi Plain in the middle of the mountainous area, and no one can leave." That Furunoji Yueng smiled bitterly, and added:
"Fourth brother, if the Hojo family is really ambushing in the mountains and forests, they must have occupied most of the key points. They don't even need to attack us by then. They only need to send a unit south from Hamaishi Mountain and Jinkasa Mountain to cut off Our route and food route can starve us to death here. They are defending in danger, and it is impossible for us to turn back and break out. The official road is so narrow. All we can do is to forcefully attack those who are defending the enemy. Isn't it true that the Hojo Army on the dangerous mountain is going to die?"
"We'll talk about it later. There will always be a chance. How would you know if you don't take a gamble?" Imagawa Yoshimoto didn't hear what Furuno Ujitoyo said at all, "If you withdraw now, are you waiting for my teacher to die?" Can’t do it?”
"Block the news and do not inform the army to avoid causing panic. The entire army will continue to advance eastward."
