Chapter 153 Xiaodou (3)
On June 10, the eleventh year of Tianwen (1542), at three quarters of noon, the Oda army began to take action.
But to everyone's surprise, the vanguard was not Oda Nobumitsu, Shibata Katsuie and other fierce generals, but Oda Nobuhiro's eldest son, Oda Nobuhiro. The structure of his army is also very strange. In addition to 500 soldiers, there are also nearly 2,000 troops without armor - are they auxiliary soldiers of the Oda family? How can there be soldiers with auxiliary troops when a war is about to begin? How could the auxiliary soldiers be trapped in the queue of soldiers?
Imagawa Yoshimoto and others stood on a hill next to Miai Town and watched with great confusion as Oda Nobuhiro's brigade moved awkwardly towards the Shiratori Shrine. The marching speed was very low along the way and the troops stumbled. Imagawa Yoshimoto, who had doubts in his heart, sent Himura Hiroyuki and Tanma to conduct reconnaissance. After a while, Himura Hiroyuki came back to report:
"Your Highness, the more than 2,000 people held by Oda Nobhiro's Anxiang soldiers are the soldiers of the Matsudaira clan who were captured in the battle of Sakurai Castle, and the Oda clan also caused chaos in Okazaki Castle and the towns they passed during their current march. The old, weak, women and children from Sanhe were captured."
"What is this going to do?" Imagawa Yoshimoto instinctively felt disgusted, and also focused his attention on Oda Nobuhiro's subordinates. I saw the Anxiang people marching swaggeringly to the Shiratori Shrine, then stopped, and did not continue to the ambush circle. Instead, after adjusting for a moment, he drove straight towards the Yichuan River in the east.
All the Imagawa troops who were watching the battle were stunned for a moment.
Do they want to cross the river directly here to relieve Miki City? The problem is that there is no suitable ferry here. To wade through the waist-deep river, cross the Yichuan River, and then attack the positions prepared by Xiushi, who were waiting for work - this was simply an impossible task. If Oda Nobhiro wants to fight like this, even if half of the Anxiang people die, he may not be able to open even a hole in the defense line of Xiodunbei.
It wasn't until cries began to be heard in the Anxiang crowd that Imagawa Yoshimoto and others realized what the Oda army was going to do:
They tied the captured prisoners, women and children to hemp ropes, drove them down the river one by one, and made them swim to the other side of Yichuan River with difficulty. These unarmed prisoners and civilians did not dare to resist, so they were pushed down the rushing river and staggered forward. Whenever one person falls, the entire string of people on the rope will fall into the water and be drowned and swept away by the river. However, Yichuan, which was twenty feet wide, seemed to have become an abyss at this moment, devouring life mercilessly.
The Oda army was driving civilians and prisoners into battle, hoping to use these cannon fodder to get past the defense line of Shoudunbei on the other side of the Oto River.
"Do you want to shoot arrows, my lord?" The archers who were guarding the shield were stunned at this moment. Facing the Oda family who forced prisoners and people to die, they were a little at a loss what to do.
"Shoot the arrow, don't hesitate." Although Daze Jiyin is still young and has a green face, his heart is ruthless. "If they rush up and disrupt the formation, when the Anxiang people cross the river to charge again, we will There is no defense left.”
"Fire the arrows!" Daze Jiyin ordered sternly, and the archers who were guarding their shields no longer hesitated. They fully opened their bows and shot random arrows into Yichuan. The prisoners and civilians howled and fell down after being hit by arrows, but the remaining people could only continue to rush forward - if they retreated, they would be executed by the Oda family supervising team, but if they rushed forward, they would still have a chance of survival.
·
In the chaotic crowd, stood a trembling little girl. Her family lived in the castle town of Okazaki Castle and she was forcibly abducted yesterday. My mother was dragged away by the Oda family samurai and never came back. My father tried to stop her but was beaten so hard that he almost died. At this moment, she was holding her father's shirt with her left hand, and holding her grandma's hand with her right hand. She put it into her mouth and kept crying.
"Dad, dad, what are you doing?" The girl watched groups of people being pushed down Yichuan River and shot down by arrows. The wailing and shrill cries came along with the wind, making the girl unable to stop. Trembling, "Are we going to die? Where is mother? Where is mother?"
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid..." The father, who was tied up in front of the girl, turned around with difficulty and touched the girl's head with his bloody hands. "Xiao Kui, don't be afraid. Wait." Just follow dad if you know how."
"Don't move! You bastard!" His father's movement immediately caused the Oda family samurai next to him to roar. He drew his shining katana and walked towards his father. My father was so frightened that he turned around quickly and did not dare to speak any more.
At this moment, the queue on Xiaokui's right was forced by the warriors to move forward, and Xiaokui's grandmother was also pushed forward. Xiaokui held on to her grandma's clothes tightly and refused to let go, almost being brought down to the ground. Grandma exclaimed and tried to help Xiaokui up, but was pushed down by the people behind her. How can a handful of old bones stand up? But the rope tied around his waist was still dragging the old man rolling and crawling towards Yichuan River. He seemed to have run out of breath before he reached the river bank.
"Grandma! Grandma!" Xiaokui wailed and wanted to throw herself in the direction of her grandma, but her father held her tightly. The man who had just lost his wife and mother was afraid that his daughter's crying would lead to a casual knife from the Oda family samurai. Not long after, their team was also pushed forward, stumbling across the smooth road full of mud, and then stepped deeply and shallowly into the rushing Yi River.
Although the river water in the shallows was not deep, it was still up to the waist and abdomen. Xiaokui, who was still small, could not reach the water surface and soon choked several times. The father who was walking in front of him quickly turned around to pick up Xiaokui and put her on his shoulders.
At this moment, a captured samurai from the Matsudaira clan at the rear of the queue suddenly started making a fuss like crazy. The warriors were treated differently from these old, weak, women and children. Their hands were also tied up and they were not given the chance to break the rope. But the warrior didn't know how he did it. After twists and turns, he managed to break free of the rope in the river, jumped into the water, and wanted to swim downstream. But all this was seen by the Oda soldiers on the shore, who greeted him with a hail of arrows. The samurai was also pierced by arrows on the spot. He groaned a few times and was washed away by the current.
The father, who had just mustered up the courage to escape with his children, suddenly succumbed, as if he had lost all fighting spirit, and followed the team aimlessly. At this moment, a man walking in front of him was hit between the eyebrows by an arrow and fell down without saying a word. The entire team fell into the Yi River and was swept away by the roaring water of the river.
·
The Oda army seemed to be determined to wait until the battle line of the Shoudunbei was breached before attacking. The Anxiang people were waiting in the Shiratori Shrine in their spare time, forcing the prisoners and people to rush into the battle, while they themselves remained motionless. Gradually, more and more corpses fell into the Yi River, and the blood gradually dyed the river red. The physical strength of the archers who guarded the shields was also decreasing, and the frequency of firing arrows was getting lower and lower. More and more prisoners and civilians were able to stand on the east bank of Yichuan River, lying on the tidal flats and not daring to move.
Upon seeing this, the Anxiang crowd also began to cross the river. The soldiers rolled up their sleeves and rushed from the river quickly. Their conspicuous armor attracted rounds of shooting, but many soldiers still managed to land ashore and used The bright swords and guns forced the exhausted prisoners and civilians who were paralyzed on the beach to rush towards Xingdun's position again. These prisoners and civilians were used as human shields and sandbags by the Oda family's troops, held in front of them to block arrows. After rushing in front of Xiodunbei's defense line, regardless of whether they were dead or alive, they pushed into the ditch and hit the horses to fill up Xiodunbei's fortifications.
"Sir, can we rescue them?" Another subordinate suggested to Osawa Motoin, "We will only attack the Oda family and release the prisoners."
"No." Daze Jiyin decisively rejected the proposal again, "The formation must not be chaotic. Anyone who dares to rush into the formation will be killed without mercy!"
·
Unlike Osawa Motoin's decisiveness, Imagawa Yoshimoto in the distance was moved by compassion.
"Isn't Oda Tanzai always known as a wise king who cares about the people?" Imagawa Yoshimoto couldn't help complaining to the people around him, "What are you doing? War is the business of the samurai family, why should innocent people be killed?" The common people are involved in the battlefield, and they are forced to do such a fatal thing? Most of them are women and children!"
·
At the same time, on Mount Ryumi, in the main formation of the Oda family.
"Tanma and the ninjas have seen it. Martial law has been enforced around the Tanada Forest. There is a high probability that there is an ambush." After listening to the reports of the superintendents, Lin Xiuzhen turned to Oda Nobuhide and said, "As my lord expected, Imagawa Yoshimoto is indeed a liar." Retreat just to lure us into an ambush."
"Then we will not advance. The main force will stay on Ryumi Mountain. We will only send a partial division to Shiratori Shrine and cross the Oto River to relieve Miki Castle. But we will not go south to Onishi Town." Oda Nobuhide crossed his arms and tilted his head. He bowed his head and said, "If we don't enter Ohnishi Town, your ambush will not be able to hit us. But we can attack Ohira Town on the other side of the Oto River in waves. Sooner or later, we will capture it. Look at that young boy Imagawa Yoshimoto. Not in a hurry."
"Yoshimoto Imagawa is known as 'the most benevolent man in Tokaido'. When he saw us driving the people, women and children into the battle, he couldn't help but help us." Lin Xiuzhen put her hands behind her back and looked at the battlefield with a meaningful smile, " There is no need to wait until he becomes anxious because of the war situation, he will soon become unable to sit still due to the casualties of the people and prisoners."
"Stop joking, Sado. Imagawa Yoshimoto is a benevolent person, not a fool." Oda Nobuhide was amused by Lin Xiuzhen's "humor" and couldn't help but laugh, "I am also called the 'Benevolent Person of the Four Owari Lower Counties' What? Then look at what I am doing in Sanhe territory now? Who cares about the life and death of the enemy’s people? "
"My kindness is only for my own people, and the people of other countries cannot be used by me. If they don't serve me in the military or pay me food, what does it have to do with me? If you die, you will die. Every time one of the people of Mikawa dies, the Matsudaira family If we are just a little weaker, our Oda family will be weakened, and I can't wait for the people of Mikawa to die."
"Haha, my lord, please speak quickly." Lin Xiuzhen also laughed happily, but then shook her head, "But as far as I know, Imagawa Yoshimoto was a monk who was dedicated to doing good, and he was not a martial artist like my lord. thinking."
"Then do you think that Imagawa Yoshimoto, 'the most benevolent person in Tokaido', will send troops to rescue these people and prisoners?" Oda Nobuhide pointed at the tragic scene at the ferry by Shiratori Shrine and laughed, "Only the victors can He is qualified to be called a benevolent person. Only when he wins can he implement benevolent policies and gain a good reputation. The loser gets nothing. How can there be any reason to give up victory for the sake of the people? If he loses, won't all the people he saved become the enemies of the enemy? Yet?"
"We'll see, lord." Lin Xiuzhen smiled confidently.
