{PS: The map of the Battle of Azukizaka has been uploaded to the book review area, please click "Writer Says" to view}
On the afternoon of June 9, the eleventh year of Tianwen (1542), Xisanhe.
As the ninjas in Okazaki Castle continued to transmit information, the samurai and ashigaru of the Imagawa Army also learned the whole story - the retainers of the Higashi Matsudaira clan were dissatisfied with Matsudaira Hirotada's reliance on the Imagawa family, and launched a mutiny to seize him. Matsudaira Hirotada later turned to the Oda family. The Oda family promised to release more than a thousand captured Matsudaira clan soldiers and unify the Matsudaira clan with Takechiyo Matsudaira as the family governor.
The food road was cut off, and it was no longer possible for the Imagawa Army to hold on to the camp on the banks of the Yahagi River. In addition, since the Higashi Matsudaira family has betrayed, the Imagawa family has no reason to confront the Oda family in Nishi Mikawa anymore. As a result, the Imagawa army burned down their camp between the Yahagi River and the Oto River, crossed the Oto River and withdrew eastward.
"Destroy all the bridges." After the last batch of troops crossed the Oto River, Imagawa Yoshimoto ordered Asahina Yasuno who was behind. At this time, the Oda family's troops were still blocked by the fire at the Imagawa family camp, and they would not be able to get over for a while. Watching the bridges collapse into the river one after another under the work of the auxiliary soldiers, splashing water as high as a person, Imagawa Yoshimoto continued to order the troops to retreat.
Not long after, the pursuers of the Oda family appeared in sight again - they began to rebuild the pontoon bridge on the west bank of the Oto River, and the vanguard troops even waded directly across the river in several shoals to pursue the Imagawa army. Plan to let Imagawa Army leave.
"Maruji Yankin, the flag of the Owari Shibata family." Imagawa Yoshimoto looked at the flag of the vanguard unit and knew that the leader was Shibata Katsuie, Owari's brave general who had become famous in recent years.
"Bei Zhongshou, please form a formation here to block the vanguard." Imagawa Yoshimoto understood that the retreating ones would definitely not be able to outrun the pursuing ones. Only by leaving behind layers of cover and blocking could the army successfully evacuate.
"Leave it to me." Asahina Taino clasped his fists in a salute, leading Asahina to fight back.
"Main army, approach the official road to the north and evacuate via the official road." Imagawa Yoshimoto pulled out his folding fan and pointed at the official road on the south side of the Oto River. "Don't go through the wasteland anymore. There are too many fields, hills and shrubs, and they will be destroyed. Caught up."
"Sena Bei, Sekiguchi Bei, and Ogasawara Bei, block the bridge to the north, cover the north side of the official road, and prevent the enemy troops near Okazaki Castle from going south."
"An Yuanbei, leave the pipeline to the south, form an arrow formation, and be responsible for supporting Asahinabei's retreat later."
"Bei Matsui, Bei Osawa, guard the rear of the team, be careful not to be attacked by rangers."
…
After crossing the river in formation, Shibata Bei immediately bit the rear of the Imagawa Army, but was firmly blocked by Asahina Bei. Although Shibata Bei was also the leader of the Oda family's army, Asahina Bei was also a strong fighter in the Imagawa army. He was unable to break through for a while and was pinned to the river by Asahina Bei, who had the advantage in strength.
After Shibata Bei, Oda Nobuhiro's Shuzanzhu and Oda Nobhiro's Anxiang Zhong also crossed the river one after another. Unlike Oda Nobhiro, who had a mediocre martial name, Oda Nobuhiro's younger brother, Oda Nobumitsu, was the most courageous general in the Oda family. He took the lead and fought tenaciously on the front line many times, and made great military exploits over the decades. While Oda Nobuhiro's Anxiang soldiers were still in formation, Oda Nobuhiro had already led his men around to the south, trying to outflank Asahinabe's flank.
Upon seeing this, Masatoshi Asai's An Yuanbei immediately responded with arrows and barely blocked Oda Nobumitsu's charge. Upon seeing this, Imagawa Yoshimoto immediately waved the flag and signaled Asahina Yasuno to lead his army to retreat. Asahina Tenno then rode forward, launched a vigorous counterattack, forced Shibata Bei back several steps, and immediately led his troops to turn around and evacuate. Shibata Bei came in pursuit, and Matsui Bei and Osawa Bei on the official road quickly took action to cover.
Asahinabei retreated to the official road and re-established a defensive line, alternately covering Anyuanbei's retreat. Sena Bei, Sekiguchi Bei and Ogasawara Bei also gave up holding on to several ferries and quickly retreated to the river with the main army. Taking advantage of this period of time, Oda Nobuhide's main army began to cross the river from the built pontoon bridge, followed by Sakuma Bei, Yamaguchi Bei, and Kondo Bei who were all ready to go. Imagawa Yoshimoto then urged the troops to quickly retreat to the southeast, but the vanguard of the Oda Army still tightly clung to the rear troops and refused to let the Imagawa Army leave, forcing Imagawa Yoshimoto to gradually deploy troops to cover, further slowing down the retreat. schedule.
Before nightfall on June 9, the 11th year of Astronomy (1542), the Imagawa army only withdrew less than 10 miles, and even Okazaki Castle could still be clearly seen. As a result, the Oda family's rear team was freed up to carry out large-scale arrests near Okazaki Castle, plundering countless villages and towns, and robbing strong men, women and children to accompany the army. After nightfall, the looted cities and towns were ablaze with fire, which stood out under the dark night sky.
·
After nightfall, the Imagawa family's camp was also brightly lit, and it seemed that they were preparing to retreat overnight. Groups of soldiers held torches and disappeared into the night, heading southeast along the official road. However, the traffic volume and speed at night are limited after all. Until dawn on June 10, the 11th year of Astronomy (1542), the troops withdrawn by the Imagawa family were still limited.
In order to evacuate as much as possible and get rid of the pursuit of the Oda family, the Imagawa army chose to have the auxiliary soldiers and combat soldiers evacuate separately to maximize the use of road traffic. The 1,000 banner soldiers of the Imagawa family surrounded the horse seal of Imagawa Yoshimoto and withdrew along the path on the south bank of the Oto River, while the more than 6,000 auxiliary soldiers of the Imagawa family and the remaining soldiers fled quickly on the official road.
The reaction of the Oda family was also very ferocious - they didn't even look at the Imagawa family's auxiliary troops who were evacuating along the official road, and the whole division went straight to Imagawa Yoshimoto's horse seal. The two armies advanced in tandem. Finally, at Shodozaka on the south bank of the Oto River, the Imagawa army finally stopped retreating and seemed to intend to form a formation to block it again to buy time for the main force to retreat.
·
At noon and early noon on June 10, the 11th year of Astronomy (1542), Oda Nobuhide set up his main formation on Mount Ryumi, while the Imagawa army set up their formation in Mihe Town, 6 miles southeast of Mount Ryumi. Just northeast of the battlefield where the two armies faced each other, Yichuan River flows from southeast to northwest. On the other side of the Oto River, Osawa Jiyin's Xidianbei still blocked the rebels in Miki City.
Oda Nobuhide placed more than 6,000 auxiliary troops in the main formation on Ryumi Mountain, and more than 3,000 of his own troops were ready to go out: Oda Nobuhide's 200 horse troops and 700 flags; Oda Nobumitsu's 650 troops, Oda Nobuhiro 500 soldiers, Sakuma Norishige's 500 soldiers, Shibata Katsuie's 350 soldiers, Takigawa Kazumasushi's 170 soldiers, Yamaguchi Kensugu's 400 soldiers and Kondo Keiharu's 200 soldiers, a total of 3670 soldiers .
In the main formation set up by Imagawa Yoshimoto in Miai Town, the number of people was much smaller. There are only 200 horse troops, 400 banners of Zhenxi Bei and 400 banners of Anyuanbei, totaling about 1,000 soldiers.
However, no one in the Imagawa family panicked. Because until now, every step of the actions of the two armies is still within Imagawa Yoshimoto's plan.
·
"Finally, we have lured out those Owari guys." In the main formation, Akai Heigao, who had been tricked by Owari's children before, was gearing up to get revenge. "Bring them to the hinterland of Mikawa, see if we can Give him a good fucking slap."
"Your Highness, do you think the Oda family really believed His Highness Matsudaira's false surrender?" Himura Hiroyuki was more thoughtful than Akai Kuroko, and was always worried about the start of the plan. "Although Lord Abe and Lord Okubo have already The acting is very realistic, but it will inevitably reveal flaws."
"I definitely don't believe it all. Otherwise, why would we leave the Mizuno family and the Sakurai Matsudaira family in Okazaki Castle to keep an eye on His Highness Matsudaira? Otherwise, why not send people into Okazaki Castle? We originally wanted His Highness Matsudaira to raise troops to help us raid Weaver City. The Tian army's retreat is probably dead now." Imagawa Yoshimoto shook his head matter-of-factly, "But that's not important. Whether the Oda family believes it or not, their troops have already chased into the hinterland of Mikawa, giving us and them a An opportunity for a wild battle. It would not be good for us to delay it, so a quick victory would be a better option."
"And this Xiaodouzaka is the battlefield I have chosen."
·
One mile southeast of Ryumi Mountain where the Oda family set up their formation, there is a dense mountain forest, which is called the Tanada Forest by the locals of Mikawa. At this moment, a total of 710 soldiers of the Toyoe Army led by Asahina Taino are ambushing in the Tanada Forest. Including Asahina Bei, Ogasawara Bei and Sekiguchi Bei. They took advantage of the cover of the trees and rolling mountains to hide inside and secretly observed the movements of the Oda army.
One mile southeast of Tanada Forest, there is another small village - Quanju Town. In Quanju Town, there are also 570 soldiers of the COSCO Ezord led by Miura Ujimitsu, including Miura Bei, Sena Bei, and Amano. Bei and Matsui Bei, they hide in residents' houses and barns.
One mile southeast of Senju Town is the Minamigaoka Shrine. 590 warriors from the Saito Ezo group are stationed in the shrine. The leader is the Iio nori company, which has Iibi, Osawa, Iio and Horikoshi. . They hid behind the shrine wall to avoid detection by the Oda family.
On the Koh-i-Noor Mountain half a mile south of the Minamigaoka Shrine, 300 soldiers of Kira Yoshiaki of the Mikawa clan and 100 soldiers of Makino Yasunari were stationed. They also did not raise any flags, but hid on the slope of the back mountain.
These nearly 2,000 soldiers were withdrawn with torches last night. After they left the sight of the Oda family, they turned north and ambush in dangerous places around Azuki Saka. These ambush places together constitute An ambush arc. If the Oda family wanted to pursue Imagawa Yoshimoto's horse seal, they would have to pass through the path between Oto River and this ambush arc: take the line of Ryumiyama - Shiratori Shrine - Onishi Town - Miai Town.
Once the Oda family reached the location of Onishi Town, they were completely in an ambush circle. As long as the Imagawa family's ambushes from all over the place swarm up, they can surround the Oda family by the river and force them into the dilemma of forming a formation with their backs to the water. Even if the Oda family wanted to cross the Oto River and retreat eastward, it would be impossible - facing Onishi Town across the Oto River was Ohira Town, the castle town of Miki Castle. Osawa Motoin's Shoudunbei seems to have been besieging Miki Castle in the past few days. In fact, according to the instructions of Yoshimoto Imagawa, a large number of defenses have been built on the east bank of the Oto River to prevent the Oda army from crossing eastward and escaping.
In the entire Oto River basin near Miki Castle, there are only two bridges that can allow large armies to pass quickly. One is the Beida Bridge in the lower reaches of the northern section, far away from the battlefield. The other one is Nandai Bridge next to Miai Town, which is controlled by the Imagawa family. In other words, the Oda army could not get a good ferry crossing.
This was Imagawa Yoshimoto's complete plan - to have the Tomatsudaira clan fake a surrender and lure the Oda family across the Yahagi River to pursue him. Then using the red bird horse seal as bait, it seems that the troops are divided and retreated, but in fact, the Oda family is led into the Imagawa family and is surrounded by Azozaka.
