Since Okazaki Castle was very close to Sakurai Castle, Imagawa Yoshimoto left the grain and grass baggage and 50 horses in the castle town of the southern part of Okazaki Castle, under the supervision of Ginkgo, Himura Hiba and Hayasaka Nao. He took the remaining 50 horse warriors and 1,200 people of the Shounbei, followed by the 1,300 clan clans under the direct jurisdiction of Matsudaira Nagauchi, crossed the Yahagi River on September 27, Tenmon 9th Year (1540), and stationed in Anxiang city. That afternoon, the army marched south towards Sakurai Castle.
Imagawa Yoshimoto himself had no intention of leading the army into battle - he did not want to incur casualties just for the sake of the Matsudaira family's housework. If Matsudaira Nagauchi can't solve the problem, it won't be too late for him to join the fight. Therefore, the Imagawa army just watched from a distance from the rear, playing the role of supervising the army.
The Sakurai Matsudaira family also has about 1,300 troops, which is on par with the Matsudaira family's troops on paper. However, at present, the entire Matsudaira family has joined Matsudaira Hirotada, and only the Sakurai Matsudaira family is accused of being rebellious, and their morale is extremely low. Seeing that the subjugation troops of the Matsudaira clan and the Imagawa clan have arrived, many people have made small calculations in their minds. Matsudaira Nobusada originally formed a formation outside the city to prepare for a battle. Seeing this situation, he did not dare to fight in the field and hurriedly withdrew into the city.
After the troops of the Matsudaira clan arrived outside the north gate of Sakurai Castle, the troops of the nearby Fukugama Matsudaira family and the Fujii Matsudaira family also came to join them, blocking the west and south gates of Sakurai Castle - while the east gate of Sakurai Castle was close to Next to the Yahagi River. Seeing that there was no way to escape, Matsudaira Nobusada finally gave up resistance and sent his envoys to surrender.
However, Matsudaira Nobusada's attitude made the members of the Matsudaira family very dissatisfied - you were unwilling to surrender before, but now you are surrendering when death is imminent? This gesture of resistance destined the Sakurai Matsudaira family to be unable to retain their old territory without accepting any punishment. Therefore, Matsudaira Nagachi strongly demanded that the Sakurai Matsudaira family Kaicheng surrender. When the army approached the city, Matsudaira Nobusada did not have the capital to refuse, so he had to open the four doors wide, tie his own hands, and come to admit his mistake to Matsudaira Nagauchi.
Matsudaira Nobusada burst into tears in front of Matsudaira Changqika in front of everyone, like a 3-year-old child. Matsudaira Nagauchi couldn't bear to see the child he loved most at that time end up like this, and he cried bitterly while holding Matsudaira Nobusada in his arms. Imagawa Yoshimoto was not very interested in the plot of father and son recognizing each other, so he waited outside the honmaru with his horse, thinking about how to solve the problem for dinner.
It was late at night, and the troops of the Matsudaira clan in the city were still busy around, searching for the remnants of the Sakurai Matsudaira family who might be hiding - Imagawa Yoshimoto thought it was unnecessary. Matsudaira Nobusada himself had no desire to resist. Looking for these What's the need? But since the Matsudaira family wanted to cause trouble, he didn't bother to care.
However, Matsudaira's caution also reminded Imagawa Yoshimoto - after all, he was leading the army alone in the Matsudaira family's territory. If there were one or two anxious people in the Matsudaira family, because they were dissatisfied with the Imagawa army, If he intervenes in Sanhe and wants to assassinate himself - that will be a serious problem. Therefore, when Matsudaira Nagauchi invited Imagawa Yoshimoto to have dinner at the castle tower, a somewhat worried Imagawa Yoshimoto declined the request and prepared to dine with his subordinates.
Not long after, the castle tower was filled with cheers and cheers. It seemed that Matsudaira Nobusada's surrender matter had been settled. Smelling the fragrant smell of food coming from the castle tower, and looking at the coarse grains he and the horsemen were holding, Imagawa Yoshimoto couldn't help but regret a little - he should have gone in to eat together.
At this moment, Imagawa Yoshimoto suddenly saw a small group of cavalry driving towards the castle tower in the night with torches. Only when he got closer did he realize that the man surrounded by the pair of cavalrymen was none other than Matsudaira Hirotada.
"Your Highness Matsudaira?" Imagawa Yoshimoto greeted him with a smile upon seeing this, "Are you also here for the banquet?"
However, when Matsudaira Hiroyuki saw Imagawa Yoshimoto, his expression suddenly became fierce, and he suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs: "Run! Your Highness Imagawa! Run! Great-grandfather is going to do something bad to you!"
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As soon as he finished speaking, the dozen or so knights around Matsudaira Hiroyuki were frightened. They swarmed up and blocked Matsudaira Hirōtada's mouth and controlled him. Only then did Imagawa Yoshimoto discover that the dozen knights were not the bodyguards of Matsudaira Hirotada, but the bannermen of Matsudaira Yasutaka of the Miki Matsudaira family - and Matsudaira Yasutaka was supposed to be staying at Okazaki Castle.
Although he still hadn't fully realized what happened, Imagawa Yoshimoto already knew that something was wrong.
"Let's go!" Imagawa Yoshimoto made a decisive decision and called on the horsemen to run to the stables together, preparing to seize the horses and escape. The dozen or so astonished Matsudaira family members had not yet reacted and failed to catch up at the first opportunity. But the changes here seemed to have been noticed by the castle tower. The roof of the castle tower instantly lit up with a blazing fire - which was particularly eye-catching in the darkness - that was a signal!
Imagawa Yoshimoto only heard the sound of sharp arrows leaving the strings in all directions. He subconsciously leaned down to avoid it. He only felt three or four feather arrows passing over his head, and a sudden sharp pain came from his right arm.
In the darkness, countless feather arrows were shot from the direction of Honmaru Castle and the castle tower. Nearly ten of the horsemen who were caught off guard were shot down immediately, and even Imagawa Yoshimoto himself was hit by an arrow in his right arm. Before he could react, countless troops from the Matsudaira clan and the Sakurai Matsudaira clan joined forces and rushed out of the castle tower to kill Imagawa Yoshimoto. The stables are also under the control of the Sakurai Matsudaira family's troops and are absolutely inaccessible.
"Let's go to the north gate!"
In desperation, Imagawa Yoshimoto had no choice but to lead his men to escape on foot, trying to rush through the north gate of Honmaru. But he had just arrived, and he was not familiar with the topography of Sakurai Castle. When he saw that the street leading to the north gate was blocked, he had no choice but to run around like a headless fly. He kept circling in the alley, trying to get close to the north gate, but no matter where he went, there were always people from the Matsudaira family waiting in front, forcing him to hide and hide under the attack of the pursuers.
Sakurai Matsudairabei and the Matsudaira clan's Hatamoto had set up ambushes everywhere and blocked several important roads, leaving Imagawa Yoshimoto with no way to go to heaven and no way to enter the earth. It turns out that their deployment just now was not to search for the remaining party members - but to build an encirclement of Imagawa Yoshimoto in advance.
"I'm going..." Imagawa Yoshimoto, who was gradually surrounded, covered his wound, his face turned livid, "What are you doing..."
"Your Highness! This way!"
In the panic, I only heard a loud roar from the east gate wall of Honmaru - that was the voice of Osawa Jiyin. Imagawa Yoshimoto couldn't care about anything else at the moment, and rushed over there with his men amidst the random arrows and pursuit. In the chaos of the war, a group of Matsudaira samurai suddenly jumped from the roof of the house and slashed at Imagawa Yoshimoto with their swords. Imagawa Yoshimoto was caught off guard, with injuries on his arms, and was thrown to the ground.
At the critical moment, Ma Huizhong's deputy director Akai Heigao arrived with a roar. He stabbed an intruder with one blow, but the Matsudaira samurai held on tightly to his sword. Akai Kuroko didn't have time to wrestle with him, so he abandoned his katana and attacked several other attackers with his bare hands. The rounded iron fist knocked those samurai armed with swords and armor back to defeat.
Akai Kuroko lifted the corpse on the ground, danced the corpse like a tiger with his terrifying arm strength, and swung it at the Matsudaira samurai with his sword, smashing the intruders until they were blinded by stars.
"Weicheng, are you there!" Akai Heigao shouted, and another strong man rushed out of the chaos. Ji Liang Weicheng swung his swords wide open and closed, forcing a bloody path. Akai Kurotaka carried the injured Imagawa Yoshimoto on his back like a chicken, and followed Kira Usei who opened the way to escape eastward. The horsemen behind him also fought and retreated.
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"Get the east gate back!"
Matsudaira Nobusada was personally leading the troops to encircle Imagawa Yoshimoto at this moment, but found that the east gate of the Honmaru had been occupied by Imagawa Iekidenbei at some point. Seeing that Imagawa Yoshimoto was already stumbling out of there, he quickly organized his troops to counterattack.
"Your Highness, the arrows there are too strong!" Matsudaira Nobusada's Mahuizhong Bifu retreated from the door dejectedly, "The second floor of the hotel next to the door is full of archers from the Imagawa family. We can't go up. .”
"Then fight from the city wall!" Matsudaira Nobusada waved his hand, and another unit under his command, led by the Hatamoto samurai, quickly rushed up the stairs to the city wall. However, before they could reach the top of the city, they saw a torch being thrown up the stairs. In the pitch-black night, the torch dazzled Songping Jun's eyes, and also illuminated themselves clearly. Now the soldiers of the Sichuan Army were stabbing at the living targets beside the torches with knives and guns in the dark.
"Damn, how many brushes does the gatekeeper have?" Matsudaira Nobusada spat on the ground, and then immediately led his archery team to start a detour, "Let's go up to the roof of the Toei family house in the northeast. From there there is a The angle allows you to shoot directly at the city head! Shoot down all those Imagawa troops!"
Matsudaira Shinsada and the archers of his brigade relied on their familiarity with the terrain of their home city to skillfully navigate the streets and alleys without lighting a torch, and soon reached the Yashiki of Toei's house. A few soldiers built a simple ladder and secretly sent the archers to the roof one by one. In the dark night, no one can see clearly.
However, before they could gain a firm foothold, they saw several rockets fired towards them. The archer of the Matsudaira family who was hit couldn't bear the pain and screamed. After hearing this shout, a warning sound immediately sounded from the wall of the east gate of Honmaru.
"Fire arrows!" Matsudaira Nobusada yelled and ordered, watching the archers on the roof shoot a dense rain of arrows towards the top of the city. However, the Imagawa troops at the top of the city were well prepared and hid behind the walls to avoid this round of shooting. Before the Matsudaira family's archers could fire another round, I saw the Imagawa family's archers behind the wall stand up, and in turn, they fired a round of arrows towards the roof. The archers of the Matsudaira family who had nowhere to hide were immediately shot to pieces and jumped down from the house wailing.
"Damn, how did they know that I would come to this rooftop? Are they more familiar with their hometown than me?" Matsudaira Nobusada couldn't help cursing. He was so angry that he was about to walk through the streets with his banner. The path rushes toward another staircase going up the wall. However, after his troops were halfway into the alley, they suddenly saw more than ten banners of the Imagawa family's shields bursting out from the houses on both sides of the alley, slashing at the unsuspecting Matsudaira army with their swords.
"How can there be an ambush here?" Nobusada Matsudaira was furious, "How do they know this is the only way to pass?"
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At this time, Imagawa Yoshimoto finally led the remnants of the Ma Huizhong to the east gate of Honmaru. When Osawa Motoin, who was commanding the defense on the wall, saw the arrival of Imagawa Yoshimoto, he immediately raised fire as a signal and ordered all ministries to evacuate.
"The first platoon of cavalry, cover His Highness! The first platoon of archers, immediately go to the second floor of the warehouse outside the east gate of Ninomaru to set up defenses. When they see me raising fire as a signal, they release arrows towards the main road! The second platoon of archers, stop Attack the roof, retreat to the top of the city gate to cover the retreat of the friendly forces! The first platoon of infantry disperses to the blocks in Ninomaru to ambush, just follow my advance deployment plan! The second platoon of infantry, go control the Ninomaru that no one is taking care of yet. At the east gate of the pill, take the small road, not the main road, and direct the auxiliary troops to evacuate! The third and fourth platoons of infantry retreat to the east gate of the pill and block the enemy! The fifth platoon of infantry now counterattacks immediately, briefly repels the enemy and then takes cover. Friendly forces evacuate!"
Osawa Motoin issued the order in a flowing manner, and he gave up the horse to Imagawa Yoshimoto and escorted him east.
"Osawa, how come you know the terrain of Sakurai Castle so well?" Imagawa Yoshimoto couldn't help praising Osawa Motoin while treating his wounds, "If you hadn't guarded the east gate, I would have fallen. It’s inside.”
"The best way to defend is to have a good location. Our Osawa family motto states that no matter where they go, the first priority for a samurai is to understand the terrain. After entering the city in the afternoon, he wandered around the city." Osawa Jiyin was confident. Chi replied to Imagawa Yoshimoto.
"There are still dozens of horses behind that have not withdrawn. How long can the east gate hold on?" Imagawa Yoshimoto looked at the chaotic battle situation behind him and asked anxiously.
"Don't worry, Your Highness!" Daze Jiyin clenched his fist with his right hand and hit his heart hard, "Your Highness, I will hold on for as long as I want!"
