"Wait to die."
Takeda Harunobu, who was urging the army to cross the river, looked at the Ogasawara army that was losing ground under Takato Castle and sneered. All the Ogasawara army's hopes fell on the Takato family's uprising to help them open the city gate. Once it failed, they would be helpless under the strong city. Once all the Takeda Army crosses the Tenryu River, they can encircle and annihilate the entire Ogasawara Army on the plain between the Tenryu River and Takato Castle.
However, what surprised Takeda Harunobu was that the Ogasawara army did not flee in embarrassment over the mountains as he imagined. Instead, they found a hill and tried to form a formation to hold on. When he saw a brown and white third-order rhino flag waving on the hills, Takeda Harunobu was really confused: "What's the use of standing firm? I can starve them to death even if I besiege them. At this time, I can either run away, or I can't fully cross the river. Half-crossing and fighting a wave. Standing firm? Isn't that waiting to die?"
Although the opponent's well-timed stupidity confused Takeda Harunobu, there was no reason not to catch the opponent's flaw. Takeda Harunobu then continued to command the troops to cross the river on the west bank of the Tenryu River. The vanguards of Iitomi Homasa and Baba Nobuharu had already pounced on the Ogasawara army. The situation was great until smoke and dust rose again in the direction of Huangshen Mountain.
The Takeda army on the battlefield stopped one after another, and turned their heads to the north in stunned silence, looking at the direction of the Ogasawara army. Behind the foothills of Huangshen Mountain on the west bank of the Tianlong River, a large number of troops marched out in a mighty manner. The remaining troops are still hidden in the mountains, but judging from the size of the smoke and dust, their number must be at least 5,000. The banners of the powerful families of Northern Shinano, such as the Yashiro family and the Suda family, were prominently listed, and the leader was none other than the famous samurai of Northern Shinano - the horse seal of Murakami Yoshikiyo, the leader of the four great generals of Shinano.
"It's broken... what the hell is this..." Takeda Harunobu, who has been planning everything since the beginning of the expedition and even orchestrated the rebellion of the Gao Yuan family, showed a panicked look for the first time, "Their territory is at least a mile away from here. Baili, how could you come all the way to get chestnuts from the fire for the Ogasawara family? They would rather delay the autumn harvest than make enemies of the Takeda family who have no grievances or enmities across other people's territory? What do they want?"
Until Takeda Harunobu saw the big characters on the flag above the Northern Shinano coalition forces——
"Follow the law of heaven and seek injustice."
·
As for the opponent of the Northern Shinano Allied Forces, Murakami Yoshikiyo mobilized his good horse and galloped on the loess of Shinano at the lead, raising his arms to the soldiers behind him and shouting:
"Takeda Harunobu is extremely vicious, treacherous, and kills innocent people indiscriminately. He led a group of Kohiko boys to do whatever they want in Shinano. They killed my soldiers, massacred my people, and plundered my town. Such crimes are outraged by both humans and gods! Now His Highness the Guardian of Ogasawara calls on us to Shinano. The righteous warriors fight according to the law of heaven, defend the land and bring peace to the people, and attack the Takeda rebels! All you gentlemen should follow me and take the lead, kill the rebels and drive the Kaibi bandits back to Kaibi!"
"Hey! Hey! Roar!"
The samurai of Northern Shinano all looked grim, wishing to eat the Takeda army alive. The tragedy of Uehara Castle and the indiscriminate killing of Takeda Harunobu had already spread throughout Shinano, which naturally aroused the burning anger in their hearts.
"Hurry and let the troops enter Takato Castle for temporary shelter!" Takeda Harunobu grabbed the horse seal from the flag bearer's hand, waved it in person and issued the order to the main force of the Takeda Army on the other side of the Tenryu River. He watched them finally break away from the contact with the Ogasawara Army and Only when they slowly retreated towards Gaoyuan City did they feel relieved. However, he immediately realized that what he should worry about was not the Takeda Army on the east bank of the Tianlong River, but the location of his own horse seal.
The Northern Shinano coalition did not cross the river to the other side of the Tenryu River. Instead, they went directly along the west bank of the Tenryu River and attacked Takeda Harunobu's main formation from north to south! There are only more than 1,000 people left in Takeda Harunobu's main formation at this moment. How can it face the impact of more than 5,000 enemy troops?
"It's over..." Takeda Harunobu took a deep breath.
"Lord, what should we do now?" Kasuga Torasuna, who was accompanying him, was in a state of chaos at this moment, and was sweating coldly from anxiety.
"What else can we do? Those who know the current affairs are heroes." Takeda Harunobu laughed twice, and then without hesitation kicked down his horse's mark, calling for the Hatamoto cavalry to flee south, and at the same time shouted: "Command all the troops to escape!"
As soon as Takeda Harunobu's horse stamp fell, the Takeda army still remaining on the west bank of the Tenryu River immediately dispersed like birds and beasts and evacuated in all directions. The reserve troops near the river hurriedly escaped across the river bank through bridges and fords, and the rest fled toward the surrounding hills and forests. The Northern Shinano coalition forces lost their target for a while and did not know where to attack. However, after hesitating for a moment, they turned west and headed towards the Imagawa Army. More than 3,300 auxiliary soldiers were left in place, while more than 1,700 combat soldiers rushed down the mountain like tigers.
The Imagawa Army was following the Takeda Army safely and did not think that it would encounter a battle soon. Even the formation was still a marching column. Now when more than 1,700 Northern-Shinano coalition soldiers were found charging towards their faces in a menacing manner, the situation was instantly in chaos.
"Form up on the official road!" Okabe Oyatsuna drew his sword and shouted, "Hurry! The enemy has arrived in front of the formation!"
After Okabe Okazuna gave the order, Okabe Bei, who was in the front team, immediately launched a defensive line on the official road, firmly blocking the Northern Shinano coalition forces.
"Go up the hill! The first and second platoons follow me up to the hills in the northeast to set up defenses! The third platoon goes to the hills in the southeast and sets up more flags to serve as suspicions!" Behind Okabe Okatsuna, Osawa Motoyo Also gave the order immediately. He led the Shoudunbei to occupy several nearby highlands first, blocking the shortest path for the Northern Shinano coalition forces to rush to Imagawa Yoshimoto's Red Bird Horse Seal.
However, Murakami Yoshikiyo's commanding style was valiant and neat. When he found someone blocking the way, he did not delay at all. He left Yashiro Bei, Suda Bei and other small wealthy people in Northern Shinano to contain the two hastily formed reserve teams of the Imagawa family. , and he drifted away. Completely ignoring the dangers on the way back, he led more than a thousand of the main force of the Murakami family to bypass the defense line and drew an arc towards Imagawa Yoshimoto's horse seal.
Upon seeing this, Imagawa Yoshimoto immediately withdrew to the direction of the Chinese army with his horse stamps. However, the reserve team of the Murakami family's old Rakuganji Masakata was extremely brave and rushed into the retreat of Imagawa Yoshimoto's horsemen at an extremely fast speed, trying to In one fell swoop, they surrounded Imagawa Yoshimoto. At this moment, the main force of the Imagawa Army's central army had just received the warning of the enemy's incoming attack, and it was too late to form their formation.
Just when Imagawa Yoshimoto felt that something was wrong and was about to draw his sword and lead the flag team to respond to the enemy, a reserve team suddenly burst out of the diagonal stab - the flag was Matsui Sonobu's gun spear. They formed four loose columns in a marching formation and suddenly ran head-on into the invading Rakuganjibei.
"Cover His Highness's retreat! Don't worry about the formation!" Matsui Munanobu jumped in front of the formation and took the lead in charging towards the enemy. Gomao Bei's soldiers did not show any stage fright. With few friendly troops around them to protect them, they gritted their teeth and attacked Leyanji Bei with one enemy. However, they beat up Leyanji Bei who was shocked. A stagger. As Gomaubei's follow-up troops gradually reached the battle line, Leyanjibei's offensive also stalled.
"A bunch of lunatics." Leyanji Masakata hated the lifeless Imagawa troops in front of him, and ordered the troops to retreat and adjust while cursing. Just when he turned around and tried to find Murakami Yoshikiyo's horse seal, he found that it was no longer in its original place.
Murakami Yoshikiyo was completely crazy. He actually abandoned his ashigaru on the battlefield and led 400 knights to continue to circle around Imagawa Yoshimoto's horse seal at an extremely fast speed, determined to capture the formation. But Miura Bei, who arrived later, did not have the courage of Goma Bei, but tried to form a formation before joining the battle, but time obviously did not allow him to do so. Murakami Yoshikiyo urged the cavalry to rush into the battle first. Miura Bei's position was almost collapsed at first touch, and was beaten to a pulp by the incoming Hokushin army.
The defeated troops on the official road blocked the troops behind them. Ogikiyo and Abe Motoshin, who were in the rear, got angry and led their troops to grab from both sides of the official road, hoping to rush to support the formation in a marching formation. Murakami Yoshikiyo sent the monk Lao Kiyoshi and Ichibi to stop the reinforcements, while he personally led the main force to attack the Red Bird Horse Seal.
"It's broken." Imagawa Yoshimoto felt cold sweat on his back, and was a little out of breath from Murakami Yoshikiyo's fierce and desperate attack. However, the Chinese army was home to all the Imagawa family's baggage, auxiliary troops, and refugees. Imagawa Yoshimoto could not abandon it, so he had to prepare for a hard resistance with 300 horse troops, and at the same time ordered all ministries to immediately return to reinforce the horse seal.
In the few moments when the horses were in formation, Murakami Yoshikiyo's troops had already jumped onto a hill next to the central army. The straight line distance from the red bird horse seal was less than half a mile. Imagawa Yoshimoto could even clearly see Murakami Yoshikiyo. The lines on the Qing horse seal. More than 400 Hokushinano war horses beside Murakami Yoshikiyo neighed, and more than 200 ashigaru followed one after another, also gearing up, waiting to destroy the Imagawa family's main formation with twice the strength and bravery.
On the official road at the bottom of the valley, the Imagawa family's army was trembling. Countless auxiliary soldiers and refugees were horrified. Looking at the weak Ma Zhongzhong in front of them and the powerful Murakami Army further away, they felt that a nightmare was coming. Even if Ma Zhongzhong and Ma Yin could survive, these numbers would never be able to protect the thousands-sized Chinese army. At that time, the Northern Shinano soldiers who passed by on both sides would kill these unarmed auxiliary soldiers and refugees like a tiger in a pack of wolves. The auxiliary soldiers could barely maintain order, but these refugees who had just been admitted from various places in Shinano were already preparing to flee with their families. Mothers hugged their children tightly, while their children supported the elderly.
Just as everyone gritted their teeth and waited for the moment of desperate struggle, the Northern Shinano coalition suddenly stopped. Just like a waterfall that plunges thousands of miles and stops out of thin air before entering the water, with the wave of Murakami Yoshikiyo's horse seal, the army's movement stopped in front of Imagawa's home army formation.
From Yoshimoto Kawakawa to the civilians and refugees, everyone was stunned and turned their eyes confusedly to where Murakami Yoshikiyo's horse seal was.
I saw a man and a horse slowly driving out, surrounded by various flags from Beishinano. The man was dressed in thick purple clothing, and the horse seal on his side already showed his identity - the leader of Shinano's four generals and the tyrant of Northern Shinano - Murakami Yoshikiyo.
He didn't say much, just put on the horse's reins, turned sideways, held his hands far in front of him, and gave a heavy fist in the direction of Imagawa Nakajun. Imagawa Yoshimoto originally thought that Murakami Yoshikiyo was looking at him, but he found that he was wrong - the direction of Murakami Yoshikiyo's eyes was not Imagawa Yoshimoto, but the thousands of Shinano refugees who were gathered behind Imagawa Yoshimoto.
Murakami Yoshikiyo coughed heavily, and then, the Northern Shinano samurai on the hill neatly clasped their fists in the direction of Imagawa Nakajun, making a dull collision sound.
"I, Murakami Yoshikiyo, fought in the name of justice. On behalf of the Shinano righteous men, I only pay tribute to Lord Yoshimoto's righteous deeds."
After saying this, Murakami Yoshikiyo drew his horse and walked away, leading the Northern Shinano army to drift away and break away from the battle line.
