Unlike Yoshimoto Imagawa, who was trapped for a while and had to draw his sword to fight in person, Osawa Motoin has been paying attention to the development of the battle situation on the entire Shodozaka battlefield, and is also clearly aware of the significance of the Ohira Town position he is holding at this moment. At noon, Xiudunbei had already exhausted a lot of energy in the battle with the Anxiang people who had crossed the river. It was really difficult to face an enemy with twice the number of himself at this moment.
"The archers occupied several commanding heights and buildings in the east of the town, and the Ashigaru were divided into squads and entered the designated east blocks to set up defenses." Osawa Kiyoshi, who had already figured out the topography of Ohira Town, stood on horseback and among the streets and alleys. Issue instructions to his subordinates, reminding them one by one of their positions and defense lines, "Abandon open areas that are difficult to defend and seize key intersections. Our numbers are not enough to cover the entire town, but we must prevent the enemy from going south!"
"In addition, the archery team pay attention, use fire suppression on the south path of the west gate of Miki City, and force the defenders who counterattack out of Miki City to the north." Osawa Kiyin left a meaningful instruction at the end. Soon after, the warriors who defended the shield understood the meaning of Osawa Jiyin's order.
The Matsudaira army in Miki Castle has been besieged for a long time, and its morale has long been low. It also suffered a lot of losses in the previous siege, and its combat effectiveness is very limited. After launching a probing attack on the east side of Ohira Town, they were immediately blocked by dense arrow rain and determined resistance. Matsudaira Shigetada was familiar with the terrain of Ohira Town. After realizing that the main force was deployed to the east of Ohira Town, he immediately moved around to the north to launch an attack.
"Move, move, quickly!" Osawa Momo immediately arranged for the platoons and squads that were originally focused on the east of Ohira Town to quickly move to the preset positions and commanding heights north of Ohira Town, taking advantage of the internal maneuverability to complete the defense layout again. So when the Miki Matsudaira family tried to attack, they immediately hit the wall again and were forced back by random arrows and street fighting.
At this moment, Kondo Bei and Takigawa Bei also arrived on the battlefield. These recharged Oda soldiers were different from the Miki Matsudaira family, and they had high combat power. However, Ohira Town is sandwiched between Miki Castle and Otokawa, and the northern entrance is not wide. At this moment, it is completely blocked by the Miki Matsudaira family.
"Is the Miki Matsudaira family now considered an enemy or an ally?" Kondo Keiharu recalled the current situation - the Miki Matsudaira family was originally resisting the Matsudaira family, and its governor Matsudaira Nobutaka has gone to the territory of the Sakurai Matsudaira family. The Sakurai Matsudaira family is now a retainer of the Nishi Matsudaira clan supported by the Oda family, and they jointly regard Matsudaira Takechiyo as the head. In that case, the young master of the Miki Matsudaira family, Matsudaira Shigetada, should also be a minister of the Nishi Matsudaira family, which is also an ally of the Oda family.
"But I still wish they were enemies." Kondo Keiharu glanced at the Miki Matsudaira family's troops and felt they were in the way. They crowded in front of Daping Town, but refused to attack vigorously.
After all, the remaining Matsudaira Shigetada had limited prestige at home as the young master and was unable to effectively command the troops. And this battle of Azukizaka is a life-and-death struggle between the Imagawa family and the Oda family. What motivation does their little Miki Matsudaira family have to participate in it? Is it any benefit to the Miki Matsudaira family to pay dozens of casualties to capture a few positions from the Imagawa family's elite Hatamoto men? They are not samurai of the Oda family. They have to obey Oda Nobuhide's order to outflank them. They just want to take back the land around their home city of Miki Castle - then there is no rush for this moment. They can take it back after the war is over anyway.
"If you don't want to fight, let them get out of the way!" Kondo Keiharu was fed up with the Miki Matsudaira family's offensive method, and the Oda family couldn't afford it. On the frontal battlefield, Oda Nobuhide in Onishi Town was being besieged by the Imagawa family's Hatamoto and the Toe clan. Apparently, the Imagawa family also had a reserve team trying to break away from the battlefield and return to support the main formation. It would be terrible if they were sent back.
After Kondo Keiharu's messenger arrived in the Miki Matsudaira family's army, the Miki Matsudaira family was a little dissatisfied. These days, many warriors are not very capable but have quite a temper. They felt that although the Nishimatsudaira clan was a vassal of the Oda family, it was only because the Nishimatsudaira clan had to obey the orders of the Oda family. Naturally, the Miki Matsudaira clan would only obey the orders of its own governor, Takechiyo Matsudaira. Why can a retainer of the Oda family jump over the hierarchy and command them? In ancient times when there was no military rank system, command problems between different command systems were also very common - the Asahina family governor could not even command an ashigaru of the Okabe family.
However, after dawdling for a long time, the Miki Matsudaira family still made way for Kondo Bei and Takigawa Bei, and they went around to the east of Ohira Town to restart the attack, with Kondo Bei and Takigawa Bei taking the main attack from the north. Soon after, Yamaguchi Bei also joined the battlefield, and the pressure on Shidun Bei suddenly increased. With more than twice the force disadvantage, the Imagawa army relied on the well-organized firepower deployed by Osawa Kiyin and the endless ambushes in the streets to barely hold off the enemy.
Although positions and blocks were still being lost one by one under the offensive of the coalition forces, Osawa Motoin finally breathed a sigh of relief - at this speed, Ohira Town would not be lost before evening. At that time, the Imagawa Army on the front battlefield You can win.
But when he noticed the actions of the Oda army, he immediately took a breath of cold air.
Yamaguchi Bei suddenly broke away from the battle line, turned around and headed east - they planned to bypass Miki Castle and directly attack the Imagawa Army's main formation from the Nandai Bridge. But right now, Xiudunbei is too busy taking care of himself that he can't detach his troops for rescue.
·
"It's too late." After seeing Yamaguchi Kotsugi's actions, Imagawa Yoshimoto immediately realized that the loss of the formation was inevitable. But anyway, there was nothing in the formation. He was heartbroken and simply ordered to Asahina Taino directly: "Send a signal to the Asahina Bichu defender, and ask the Tohara Ezumi to stop the siege of Onishi Town, and in turn go directly to the dragon." The main formation of the Miyama Oda family!"
All tactics changers are an eternal truth.
Although the Oda family's Crane Wings outflanked them quickly, there were not many troops left in the formation and they could not withstand the attack. After realizing that the Higashikawa people were moving towards Mount Ryumi, the Oda army fighting in Onishi Town suddenly panicked - all the auxiliary soldiers of the Imagawa family had withdrawn, but the auxiliary soldiers of the Oda family were still at Mount Ryumi. . If he was killed, wounded and captured by the Dongyuanjiang people, it would do a lot of damage to the manpower of the Oda family.
But Oda Nobuhide was also determined and determined to show off with the Imagawa Army here. He ignored the Dongyuanjiang people who had left the battle line, and gathered all his troops to attack Imagawa Yoshimoto's horse seal. The samurai of the Oda family seemed to have been beaten to death. After seeing the general attack order issued by Oda Nobuhide's horse seal, they all roared and rushed over.
"Is Oda Nobuhide willing to die?" The samurai of the Imagawa Army were all stunned when they saw this. They had never seen such a style of indifference after seeing the auxiliary troops and food and baggage being threatened.
Due to the lack of the combat power of Toyo Ezumi, the Onishi Town battlefield where the Imagawa army originally had the upper hand also fell into decline. Under the offensive of the Oda family, it was forced to retreat step by step, retreating towards the main formation of Miai Town.
At this moment, Imagawa Yoshimoto couldn't help but regret his haste when he ordered the house change just now. If at this time, Yamaguchi Kensugu's troops did not rush towards the empty main formation after crossing the Nandai Bridge, but turned around and marched westward along the Oto River, cooperating with the main force of the Oda family to attack the Imagawa Army from both sides, the Imagawa Army would be attacked from both sides. The trouble is big. Even if Yamaguchi can't prepare for the river, and instead chooses to go directly north after bypassing Miki Castle, and cooperate with other troops to siege Ohira Town - then the situation with the Oto River on one side and the enemy on three sides will be in danger.
But Yamaguchi Bei didn't seem to have this intention, and he just chose the wrong one among a bunch of right choices - he rushed towards the Imagawa Army's main formation, dispersed a few defenders, and then started setting fire to it in a showy manner. However, Imagawa Yoshimoto's horse seal was not in the main formation. This move did not do much to shake the morale of the Imagawa army, but it was a waste of precious time.
At the same time, Asahina Tenno also led people into the Oda family's main formation. Upon seeing this, the Oda family's auxiliary soldiers fled north one after another. Asahina Tenno did not pursue them and began to set fire to the food and grass supplies brought by the Oda family. . At this time, Oda Nobuhide finally couldn't sit still and issued a general retreat order to the entire army. All Oda troops on the battlefield evacuated along the original route. Imagawa Yoshimoto was also in hot pursuit and quickly ordered all his troops to retreat to their own formation to avoid being surrounded by the Oda family. After seeing that the Oda family seemed to be intending to retreat, the elders and samurai of the Miki Matsudaira family also abandoned Miki Castle with their families and evacuated with the Oda family.
·
On the evening of June 10, the eleventh year of Tenmon (1542), the Imagawa army extinguished the fire in the main formation, and the auxiliary troops that had previously detoured and evacuated also rushed back under the leadership of Na Furuno Ujitoyo to join the main army. Set up camp, treat wounded soldiers, and cook dinner. After counting, more than 300 people of the Imagawa Army were killed and more than 700 injured in this battle - the casualties of the Oda family are estimated to be similar.
But Yoshimoto Imagawa did not return to the camp, but wandered around the battlefield with a small group of horses holding torches to check whether there were any missing wounded soldiers who had not returned to the team. The battlefield in Onishi Town is very chaotic, with the enemy and ourselves intertwined, and it is difficult to guarantee that someone will not be able to follow the team during the retreat. After struggling for an hour, Imagawa Yoshimoto finally found a dozen wounded soldiers who were hiding in the pile of corpses and were afraid or unable to move. He helped them onto their horses and rode back to the main formation.
What surprised Imagawa Yoshimoto was that even though it was already time to go to bed, there seemed to be some restlessness in the formation, and the firelight was also very bright. He rode into the camp gate, and just as he was about to find someone to ask about the situation, he suddenly saw all the samurai and ashigaru in the formation standing up, like a huge wave of people. They raised their weapons high and gave warm cheers to Imagawa Yoshimoto among the bonfires. Wave after wave of cheers echoed in the silent Azuki Saka.
"Long live the Imagawa family!"
"Long live your Royal Highness the Governor!"
"Long live the Imagawa family!"
"Long live your Royal Highness the Governor!"
…
"What are you doing?" Imagawa Yoshimoto asked Himura Hiroyuki who was riding over, and lowered his voice with some embarrassment, "We didn't win either."
"Your deeds of fighting into a tight siege and rescuing your subordinates in dangerous situations have spread throughout the army." Himura Hiroyuki bowed respectfully to Imagawa Yoshimoto, then turned around and spread his hands, pointing at the enthusiastic soldiers in the camp, " This cheer is not dedicated to a fierce general who is victorious in every battle, but to a gentle warrior who loves his soldiers as his own children."
Imagawa Yoshimoto was silent, standing in the middle of the camp, feeling the sincere feelings of the men, and after a long time his eyes filled with tears.
Yes, in this era bound by countless ethical principles, it has become a matter of course for the lowly to sacrifice for the superior, so much so that a family governor only does the ordinary thing of living and dying with his subordinates. The smallest things are enough to gain such loyalty and gratitude. For people who have been living under unequal class oppression all year round, "treating each other as equals" is already a precious kindness.
"There is really no way..."
