"It's over, it's over..."
At this moment, Nobuhiro Oda, who was running wildly east of the Yahagi River, had been muttering "It's over" for half an hour. The friendly force behind Mizuno Bei has been defeated, and in front is the main force of the Imagawa family's attack. On his south side - Asahina Bei and Okabe Bei are quickly detouring westward, trying to block his way to escape across the river. And it won't be long before the Imagawa family, which has just defeated Mizuno Bei, will complete its reorganization and move south to attack itself - then death will really be imminent.
"Where are those bald donkeys from the Ichikai sect? Why are they not moving? We are here to cooperate with your Ichikai sect. What are you doing?" Oda Nobuhiro has already greeted the Jodo Shinshu monks in Mikawa tens of millions of times in his heart. He didn't know that the Imagawa family had quickly completed the reconciliation with the Yi Xiangzong with Shanru's help. At this moment, he couldn't find even an ally in the hinterland of Mikawa.
"Your Highness, Okabe Bei and Asahina Bei are faster than us!" Oda Nobuhiro's attendants have been paying attention to the speed of the torch moving parallel to the south. "If this continues, they will get in front of us! Change the line Road, right?"
"Change the road?" Oda Nobuhiro turned to the east and glanced at the pursuers behind him - that was probably the main force of the Imagawa army. Under the firelight, Imagawa Yoshimoto's red bird horse seal was faintly visible, and the surrounding troops moved forward no matter what. "There is no other way out."
"Why don't you leave first, Your Highness, and we can follow later?" Another Hatamoto was also a little anxious, and asked such a question tentatively.
"Are you trying to make me abandon the army and abscond?" Oda Nobhiro heard the meaning of Hatamoto's words, frowned, and scolded in a low voice: "This Anxiangzhong was handed over to me by my father, and you want me to abandon it." Did they escape?"
"How is that possible? Let His Highness go first and organize a crossing on the river bank. After all, the situation of the ferry and the crossing bridge has not yet been grasped. Only His Highness can handle such important matters!" This Hatamoto can talk, and helped Oda Nobuhiro build the steps gorgeously. Majestic, "Even if I fight for my life, I will lead the team to the river bank! Your Highness, you will command us to cross the river when the time comes!"
Oda Nobuhiro fell into silence, he hesitated. He could indeed act like a great hero, loudly scolding his subordinates' suggestions, and categorically announcing that he would stay - and finally burying himself here. Oda Nobuhide's legitimate son was still young, and as the eldest son of an adult concubine, once he was captured, the negative impact would be incalculable. For your own face and honor, or for the interests of the Oda family?
"Then please, make sure you come out safely." Oda Nobuhiro made a choice. He seemed to have no face to communicate with his subordinates anymore, turned around, patted the horse and left.
"Yes!" Several Hatamotos were all samurai who had served the Oda family for generations. After receiving such a promise from Oda Nobuhiro, they all breathed a sigh of relief, then puffed out their chests and loudly accepted the order.
·
"Oda Ohsumi seems to want to abandon the army and abscond..." Taiyuan Xuezai, who was pursuing from behind, suddenly spoke.
"Hey? Teacher, your eyes are so good?" Imagawa Yoshimoto looked intently at An Xiangzhong's torch, but couldn't see any movement at all.
"The Anxiang people have slowed down a bit, they are not in such a hurry to run, and the team has expanded to the two wings." Taiyuan Xuezhai said sharply: "It is obvious that some cavalry in the team have left, and the rest There is no need for the Ashigaru to follow the cavalry. If you are slack, you will be slow. And the current leader intends to disperse the troops to cover the evacuation. It must be Oda Ohsumi who left on horseback with his guards and some samurai."
"What do you say?"
"Chengfang, go and stop him." Taiyuan Xuezhai raised his arm and snapped his fingers in the direction of the stab: "Take the horse and horse away from the large army, walk in a straight line, go straight to the river, and stop the cavalry group. "
"Okay." Imagawa Yoshimoto then took the order and left, ordered 400 horses and his trusted guards, and rode straight to the back road of Oda Nobhiro. After crossing a few small hills, Imagawa Yoshimoto had left the main armies on both sides behind him, and the silhouette of a group of people hurriedly fleeing westward with torches in the distance became clear - they were all cavalry, probably Oda Nobuhiro . After they abandoned the Ashigaru brigade, their escape speed was several levels faster, and they quickly rushed to the vicinity of the Yahagi River.
Oda Nobuhiro and others seemed to have noticed the group of pursuers diagonally behind them, and desperately began to urge the horses to speed up. However, in the cavalry pursuit of night battles, the people in front can always outrun the people behind - because the people in front can only rely on
The torch cannot see the road clearly and dare not gallop recklessly, otherwise it will fall to the ground if it is not careful - and the pursuers behind take the road trodden by the people in front, which is naturally much safer.
Suddenly he tripped over something, and one of the guards beside Oda Nobuhiro was thrown away, including the man and his horse. The whole team was almost scattered, and three or four people fell down in succession. Imagawa Yoshimoto took the opportunity to shorten the distance severely, while Oda Nobuhiro only had about twenty riders left.
Even if the factor of night is not taken into account, the riding skills and horses of the cavalry beside Oda Nobuhiro are far inferior to the elite banner of the current Kawa family. Seeing the Yahagi River right in front of him, Imagawa Yoshimoto's pursuers were getting closer and closer. Oda Nobuhiro almost beat the buttocks of the horse he was sitting on to pieces, but he could only watch helplessly as the torches from behind gradually approached, and the sound of the horse's hooves became louder and louder.
"Hold on! We'll be arriving at the Yahagi River soon!" Oda Nobuhiro's attendant looked at the moonlit river in front of him and roared as hard as he could to boost morale. "After crossing the Yahagi River, we turned over on the bridge to fight. , cover His Highness’s evacuation!”
"Yes!" The attendants all yelled.
·
On the other side, Imagawa Yoshimoto briefly estimated the distance between the two - he was not sure whether he could catch up with Oda Nobhiro on the bank of the Yahagi River. The success or failure was estimated to be between 50 and 50. He pursed his lips and felt the force of the evening wind blowing through his hair - it was a tailwind, and the wind was not weak.
"Bend the bow and nock an arrow." So, Imagawa Yoshimoto quickly took off the bow from his back, took out an arrow from the quiver, and ordered in a deep voice. In the night, the 400 horses that followed heard the order and all took their bows and arrows.
"Up three, full string." Imagawa Yoshimoto drove the horse forward while fine-tuning the angle. Taking advantage of a smooth opportunity to leap into the air with four hooves, he flicked his wrist: "Let go!"
For a moment, arrows rained down, and the sound of sharp arrows piercing the air was endless - it was not just Imagawa Yoshimoto who shot arrows, the sound of loose strings also sounded from the river bank!
Before Imagawa Yoshimoto could react to what was happening, hundreds of feathered arrows were directly nailed to the land not far in front of Imagawa Yoshimoto's horse.
Imagawa Yoshimoto was shocked and hurriedly reined in his horse. The horse stood up and neighed. The horsemen behind him also stopped in a hurry when they saw this, hoping not to hit him.
"Is there an ambush?" Imagawa Yoshimoto looked at the random arrows in front of him by the firelight - this number was definitely not something that Oda Nobuhiro and his team could shoot when they escaped. There must be an ambush nearby. In this case, it is very dangerous to continue to use the torch as a target. Just when Imagawa Yoshimoto was about to order the torches to be extinguished, countless torches suddenly lit up on the bank of the Yahagi River, and an army of thousands of people appeared in front of them.
The flag is the Yamaguchi family of Narumi Castle - why are they here? Didn't they make an agreement that the Yamaguchi family could just betray the information about the Oda family's former army, and asked them not to cross the Yahagi River to avoid accidental injury?
Under the light of those torches, Imagawa Yoshimoto also vaguely saw Oda Nobuhiro and his party, who had been hit by several feather arrows, fled into the mountain pass in panic to prepare for the formation.
"Your Highness, it's dangerous here." Heimura Yangha noticed that the Anxiang people and the Imagawa army were chasing towards this side, and immediately stepped forward to grab Imagawa Yoshimoto, "I know that you are brave enough to be invincible. But it’s late at night, and you can’t see your fingers. If you get caught in the chaos, it will be dangerous, so you’d better evacuate. If you don’t catch it, you won’t catch it.”
"I got it." Imagawa Yoshimoto was not interested in putting his subordinates in danger for the sake of profit, so he wisely pulled out his horse and left.
·
After Imagawa Yoshimoto led his troops to leave, the Anxiang people were also chased by the Imagawa family's main army and fled to the shore. The organization was already in chaos along the way, and about three men and horses were scattered and killed. However, Asahina Bei and Okabe Bei, who were outflanking, were forced back by random arrows from Yamaguchi Bei, who was well prepared. At night with unclear vision, it was unwise to forcefully cross the river to attack a well-formed army. The goal of capturing Nobhiro Oda had also been lost. Taiyuan Xuezhai decisively ordered a retreat, allowing the Anxiang Army's thousands of defeated troops to cross the river to the west. escape.
"Teacher." Imagawa Yoshimoto returned to the camp. Just as he was about to ask Taiyuan Xuezhai what was going on, he saw Honda Tadanobu, Yamaguchi Kotsugi's confidant, already waiting in the main tent.
"Your Highness Jibu, I am here to apologize on my Lord's order." Honda Tadanobu saw Imagawa Yoshimoto coming and immediately bowed respectfully.
.
"You know you have to apologize but you still act, so why do you need to apologize?" Naturally, Imagawa Yoshimoto was not very happy because he was put in a position. He took off his clothes and hung them up, and sat down on the horse.
"My lord said, we both get what we need, and your army will not suffer any loss." Honda Tadanobu seemed not to understand the sarcasm in Imagawa Yoshimoto's words, but argued plausibly: "My lord betrayed the Imagawa family. After obtaining the information, he helped the Imagawa family defeat the Oda family at a very small cost. The gains in this battle were estimated to be half of those in the battle of Azukizaka, but the casualties were probably not even one-twentieth? In return, the Imagawa family severely attacked the Oda family. The Yamaguchi family's rivals in southern Owari, the Mizuno family and Oda Ohsumi, made it easy for the Yamaguchi family to expand in the Chita Peninsula."
"Then why do you still want to save your opponent?" Imagawa Yoshimoto took out his folding fan and fanned himself to cool down the fire.
"Then we can't let your army gain too much power. If the power of the Oda family collapses thousands of miles away in Nishi Mikawa, and the Imagawa family will soon be on the verge of defeat, my lord will have no room for development. The two families are evenly matched, and they can eat each other occasionally. A small loss is what I want to see the most." Tadanobu Honda was sincere and unabashedly expressed what Yamaguchi Kotsugi was saying: "So the friendly forces should be rescued, and besides, Oda Ohsumi is also Oda. As the eldest son of a common concubine, this saving grace can provide a lot of convenience to my lord in the Oda family."
