At three o'clock in the morning, in the jungle on Jinli Mountain.
Hojo Weimasa, who was ambushing here, could vaguely see the Imagawa family's army through the thick fog, almost undefended, walking in a marching column on the narrow official road. After all, he was young and energetic, and he had almost lost his temper and wanted to attack several times.
"We can't fight yet..." Hojo Weichang kept complaining, his eyes fixed on the place where Hojo's Yasumain was. In this battle, Hojo Ujitsuna and a partial force stayed beside the Fuji River to besiege Taiyuan Xuezai, while the main force was handed over to the command of Hojo Ujiyasu.
In the eyes of others, this may be Hojo Utsuna training himself to be the successor. But only the Hojo family knew that it was just because Hojo Uyasu was stronger. Even though he is only 22 years old, his military strategy has surpassed that of his father and all the senior generals in the Hojo family, and no one in Kanto can match him. When he first went into battle 6 years ago, when he was only 16 years old, he beat the shit out of the Uesugi family of Ogitani.
Because of this, everyone in the Hojo family believes in the command and judgment of Hojo Ujiyasu, and the same is naturally true for Hojo Noshimasa, the younger brother. Hojo Ujiyasu didn't give an order, even if he choked to death, he wouldn't move a finger.
He turned his head and looked to the west. At the foot of Hamaishi Mountain where Hojo Tsudaka was ambushing, there were still a large number of Imagawa troops that had not yet passed. He turned his head and looked east again. It seemed that Yoshimoto Imagawa's forward progress was not very fast - but the fog was too thick and he couldn't see clearly. According to the original plan, the ambush would only be launched when the two conditions of "all the Imagawa troops crossed Hamaishi Mountain" and "the vanguard of the Imagawa troops arrived at the foot of Mount Nakao" were met. Hojo Weichang lamented more than once that his brother's appetite was really big - he actually dared to make a plan to annihilate the main force of the Imagawa family in one go.
"You're so lazy, Mr. Suruga, you're really slow..." Hojo Weimasa cursed and muttered, and looked at the young man behind him, "Are you Suruga people always so lazy?"
"Anyone who doesn't wait will die in Huacang." The young man replied in a low voice through gritted teeth.
Hojo Weimasa was about to respond, but was suddenly attracted by a slowly rising wisp of smoke. He looked closely and found that this was the smoke signal ignited where Imagawa Yoshimoto's horse seal was.
"What does this mean?" Hojo Weimasa greeted the young man behind him, "Tsunari, do you understand?"
"It means 'wait a moment'. Imagawa Yoshimoto doesn't know whether to slow down the march or rest on the spot. He wants to tell Kabara Castle to let them hold on for a while." A young man named Hojo Tsunari said coldly.
His surname was Fukushima, and he was the eldest son of the Fukushima family in Suruga Hanakura. He was also the only male member of the Fukushima family to escape from the catastrophe, except for the Fukushima Katsunari family who surrendered. Under the desperate cover of his retainers, he escaped from the Fuji River and was taken in by the Hojo family. After receiving the name given by Hojo Uzuna, he changed his name to Hojo Tsunari and became the adopted son of Hojo Noimasa, who was about the same age as himself. He is eager for revenge and does not care about his age or seniority. As long as he can fight the Imagawa army, he is willing to do anything.
"Haha, it's such a long time." Hojo Weichang impatiently leaned on the tree trunk behind him, crossed his legs and began to rest, "Then just wait, anyway, you are going to die today, it doesn't matter whether it is sooner or later."
·
"Will this beacon work?"
Hayasaka Nao looked at the smoke that she had just summoned the auxiliary soldiers to light in the thick fog, and looked at Imagawa Yoshimoto with some uneasiness.
"Every person who can deceive an ambush is counted as one. They are probably ambushing each other in the mountains and forests. Communication is not easy and there is no way to share information in time. But the smoke I set off can be seen by every ambush of the Hojo family." Imagawa Yoshimoto He pulled out his folding fan and fanned the thick smoke that was close to him. Then he got on his horse and said, "Let's go. After bypassing the woods in front, the ambushes behind us will lose sight of our movements in the thick fog. Imagawa Iahata obeys the order, follow me at full speed, cross the Yui River, and seize the highest point on the Yui Plain - Honmitsu Mountain!"
·
At 6:00 a.m., the Imagawa flag's headquarters crossed the Yui River and advanced toward Honmitsu Mountain in the northeast.
Honkoyama is located at the easternmost end of the Yui Plain surrounded by mountains. One mile to the east is Mount Nakao, which is most suitable for ambush. Less than 1 mile north of Honkoyama is Mount Hayashi, from where the Yui River flows southwest into the Yui Plain. Three miles west of Mount Rinka, the Banko River flows from north to south into Suruga Bay. The place where the Banko River merges into the Yuhi River, due to the rich water source, has nourished a large area of dense forest, covering the intersection of the two rivers. It is called the Ishikiri Forest. The Ishikiri Forest is about 4 miles west of Honkoyama. It is located 6 miles southwest of Linxiang Mountain.
"There should be countless eyes watching us on the mountains to the north, right?" Imagawa Yoshimoto stationed his horse on the bank of the Yuiga River, as if he could feel the sight of countless Hojo troops through the thick fog, "The troops will go east along the official road first. Pretend to be heading towards Nakao Mountain to confuse the enemy. Once you get to the south of Honkoyama, turn vertically to the north and seize Honkoyama."
"Instruct the rear army to prepare to speed up! As soon as our vanguard reaches Honmitsu Mountain, the Hojo family will probably realize that their ambush has been discovered, and the battle will begin. If they have not moved away from Mount Jinkasa and entered the Yubi Plain by then. , will be defeated immediately. All samurai and Ashigaru, after crossing the Yuigagawa River, took back their equipment from the auxiliary soldiers, put on their own armor, and prepared for battle. Asahina Bei and Okabe Bei came after me, Se Nabei and Sekiguchi Bei took advantage of the heavy fog to enter the Ishikiri Forest to ambush, and Miura Bei, Abe Bei and Udono Bei crossed the river as soon as possible."
"Hurry up!" Imagawa Yoshimoto waved to the soldiers who were crossing the river on several bridges and fords across the Hikawa River to speed up. At the same time, he glanced meaningfully at the river water.
·
"coming."
At eight o'clock in the morning, Toyama Tsunakage, who was ambushing in the Nakao Mountain, whispered excitedly. As the chief of the Edo people who were loyal to Hojo Ujitsuna, Toyama Tsunakage's subordinates had always been known for being good at fighting, so they were also entrusted with the important task of ambush on Mount Nakao. At this moment, watching the vanguard of Imagawa's army surrounded by Imagawa Yoshimoto's red bird horse seals continuously attacking eastward, he was extremely excited. He seemed to have seen the careless Imagawa troops hurriedly walking in a marching queue on the narrow channel between the mountains and the sea. He seemed to have seen how these unprepared Imagawa troops were caught when the wolf-like Hojo army killed Nakao Mountain. They were defeated in one fell swoop and fled in all directions.
For this moment, the Hojo Army began its layout two days ago. The ninjas in Fengma all came out to completely block the information east of Xingjin. Then they made an emergency landing at the Umagawara family, and let their guides lead the way, guiding the 8,000 troops of the Hojo family to deploy on dangerous mountains, waiting for the main force of the Imagawa family, who were rushing to rescue, to fall into the trap. In order to further deceive the Imagawa army into the ambush area, Hojo Ujiyasu even asked the Umohara Mitsuru family to contribute his own writings of Ma Yuzhong, and he pretended to die to pass the order, falsely reporting military information that the Hojo family's army was besieging Kamahara Castle and Fuji Village.
All the plans were perfect, just waiting for Imagawa Yoshimoto to fall into the trap.
Toyama Tsunakage stood up slowly and raised the katana in his hand. The Edo soldiers of the Hojo army who were ambushing in the mountain had already completed their formation. Seeing the Imagawa army getting closer and closer, they were about to rush down the mountain when Toyama Tsunakage gave the order.
However, the Imagawa army in front of them suddenly made a 90-degree right-angle turn. Under the leadership of the red bird horse seal, they went straight north and rushed towards Honkoyama.
"What do you mean? Lost?"
Toyama Tsunakage looked confused and put down his sword at a loss.
·
At this time, Imagawa Yoshimoto took the lead and led the bannermen to climb Honkoyama. Fortunately, the Hojo family did not occupy this hill on the Yui Plain, giving Imagawa Yoshimoto a commanding height from which he could view the entire battle situation.
When we reached the top of the mountain, the fog had gradually dispersed. Imagawa Yoshimoto stopped his horse and looked back to the Yui Plain to the west. More than 7,000 of the Imagawa family's 8,000-strong army have already crossed the Yuigagawa River. Only Miura Bei, Abe Bei and Udono Bei were left, still waiting to cross the river.
"That's almost it. The Hojo family will soon realize that they have been deceived and start a fight."
Imagawa Yoshimoto murmured in his mouth.
Suddenly, a faint light was reflected from the woods at the top of Linxiang Mountain a few hundred meters to the north, which just caught Imagawa Yoshimoto's eyes. Imagawa Yoshimoto didn't need to think too much, and he understood what was hidden on Linxiang Mountain. He took off the long bow from his waist with his left hand, and took out the arrows from the quiver with his right hand. He gracefully bent the bow and nocked the arrow, aiming at the top of Linxiang Mountain, which was a head shorter than his own Benguang Mountain. Then he pulled hard with the help of his waist strength, pulling the bowstring to the point where it was close to breaking with an almost exaggerated amplitude and posture.
He narrowed his eyes and took aim casually. The sound of Li Xian sounded in his ears, and a sharp arrow shot out of the air.
"You self-righteous guy, come out and see who is the prey."
Imagawa Yoshimoto chuckled and whispered.
·
The feather arrow shot into the dense forest with astonishing force, startling countless birds.
At the top of Linxiang Mountain, a bearded man was sitting under a big tree with his head tilted. The arrow that had just been shot was nailed to the tree trunk just within earshot of his ear. The arrow had penetrated three points into the wood, and the feathers on the tail of the arrow were still trembling slightly, making a harsh buzzing sound. If he hadn't tilted his head, the arrow would have hit the center of his eyebrows instead of the tree trunk.
The surrounding Hojo family's Hatakemoto and horsemen were shocked, and hurriedly gathered around to see if their young master was injured. However, Hojo Ujiyasu didn't care and just laughed a few times. The scars on his face also looked a bit ferocious as his muscles changed.
"Smug guy, do you think you're hunting?"
Hojo Ujiyasu stood up and shook his neck vigorously, making a crisp sound. He tore off the feather arrow nailed to the tree trunk, broke it in half in his hand, and threw it casually down the mountain. Then he raised his eyes and looked fiercely at the red bird horse seal on the top of Benguang Mountain.
"Hunter, you have provoked a lion."
