Two days later, on April 19, the 14th year of Astronomy (1545), the border between Izu Kingdom and Suruga Kingdom was reached.
Hojo Ujiyao has joined forces with Kasahara Nobuya and Tominaga Naokatsu, the total strength has reached 3,000 people, and they are quickly heading north along the official road, intending to take advantage of the Imagawa family's unstable foothold to raid and recapture Katsurayama Castle.
"Are you sure? The Imagawa family only has 400 horses in Katsurayama Castle?" Along the way, Hojo Ujiyao asked Fuma Kotaro who was accompanied by the Fuma ninja army for cover countless times. After all, the first intelligence sent back by Hojo Tsunaka was that he suspected that the main force of the Imagawa family was here, so the Hojo family immediately gathered most of the troops of Izu and Sagami. If the Imagawa family really had tens of thousands of people here, then the 3,000 people that Hojo Ujiyao had inserted into Katsurayama Castle would have just plunged into an ambush, making it difficult to escape.
"Back to Your Highness, I have repeatedly confirmed that the Imagawa family only has the 400 horses. No other troops were seen nearby. No other Imagawa family troops were seen at the sentries along the way." Fuma Kotaro said with almost no ups and downs. 's voice replied.
"That's good...that's good." Hojo Ujiyao nodded repeatedly, holding the order given to him by Hojo Ujiyasu in his arms. After realizing that the Imagawa family's troops to seize Katsurayama Castle only had 400 people, Hojo Ujiyasu ordered the troops starting from Izu to move north immediately. Before the main force of the Imagawa family arrived, he cooperated with Akabi who was on standby in the east of the castle to take the castle on April 19. Go to Geshan City. The main force of the Hojo family, Hatamoto, departed from Odawara Castle and will arrive before nightfall tomorrow.
"There are only 400 people, but they all have iron cannons." Kasahara Nobuyuki rode his horse to the side of Hojo Ujiyao, and said worriedly: "Although a few of us met when we went to Odawara Castle to watch the iron artillery team's martial arts performance, but the soldiers But not yet. If they have to face that thing on the battlefield, they will inevitably panic, right?"
"And 400 iron cannons used to defend the city will definitely cause us considerable casualties." Tominaga Naokatsu was also uneasy, "We were in a hurry to set off, and the troops were not assembled, let alone the siege equipment. No. We know how many siege engines Bichushu (Hojo Tsunadaka) and others can build for us to use in these two days."
"Let's talk about it when we get to the city. Everything will be discussed later. Before attacking the city, hold a few more evaluation meetings to inform all the samurai of the existence and use of the "iron cannon", and then let them report it to their own ashigaru. "The more he thought about it, the more headache he felt, so he simply gave up, "Or should we besiege the city first, set up camp, and block the reinforcements coming from Suruga. Should we wait until the lord's banner army arrives before starting the battle?"
Just when the samurai of the Hojo family couldn't make up their mind, the scout cavalry who was scouting the road in front of the army came quickly on horseback. They dismounted in front of Hojo Ujiyao and others and said: "Your Highnesses, enemy troops have been spotted ahead! There are approximately 100 people in total. Three to five hundred!"
"Enemy army? But reinforcements from the Imagawa family?" Hojo Ujiyao immediately became alert, "They came so fast? Are they in front of us? Are they from the Fuji family?"
"No, judging from the flag and attire, it should be the horseback of Imagawa Harubu." The scout pointed forward with his backhand, and he could faintly see the horse's hooves approaching quickly. After a while, you can see the red bird horse print gradually becoming clearer in the distance.
"Red Bird?" Everyone in the Hojo family recognized the symbol of the Imagawa family governor.
"Are you planning to abandon the city?" Kasahara Nobui was the first to react. "Imagawa Harubu decided that it was too dangerous for 400 people to defend the isolated city and decided to evacuate?"
"Are you going to block it?" Tominaga Naokatsu was also excited. "Although they are all cavalry, it may be difficult for us to pursue them, but if we seize the main road, there is still a chance to leave a team of horses and return! Those are all from the Imagawa family. The elite are in danger now and must not let them go."
"Immediately move forward to occupy the fork in the official road and force them to go to the fields beside the official road. The horses cannot run fast in the fields!" Hojo Ujiyao immediately issued the order, and the soldiers of the Hojo family hurriedly formed their formations, leaving the auxiliary soldiers behind. Behind him, he ran forward quickly. However, when they arrived at the intersection of the official road, they found that the Imagawa family's horsemen did not try to escape. Instead, they all dismounted and pointed black iron rods at them.
"No! The whole army stops!" Hojo Ujiyao realized something was wrong and quickly stopped the troops from advancing, keeping the forwards out of the range of the iron cannon.
However, before he had a chance to explain "what is an iron cannon" to his subordinates, the Imagawa family
However, the horseback crowd strode forward under the command, quickly shortening the distance between the two armies. Seeing the troops, Hojo Ujiyao had to continue to order the troops to retreat, which confused the soldiers of the Hojo family.
"Why withdraw?"
"Suruga-san, there are obviously few people!"
"What are those black sticks?"
"What are you thinking, samurai masters?"
…
So, on the official road, such a funny scene happened. The outnumbered Hojo army was retreating, while the weak Imagawa family horsemen were pressing forward step by step with some iron rods in their hands. As they continued to retreat, the Hojo family's queue and formation tended to break up.
Just when Hojo Ujiyao didn't know how to break the situation, Imagawa Kaimai and others took the lead in changing their tactics. They were leading the horses in pursuit, but after seeing the Hojo army retreating, they actually got on their horses and rushed towards the Hojo family's queue.
"Formation! Formation!" Seeing this, the samurai on the front line of the Hojo family quickly stopped their retreat, and instead ordered their subordinates to form formations to deal with the Imagawa family's possible attack on the formation. The soldiers of the Hojo family had long been bothered by the instructions from above requiring continuous retreat, and they stopped retreating one after another and picked up their weapons to prepare for the enemy.
But now the Sichuan Army once again stopped more than 30 feet in front of the Hojo Army. The horsemen reined in their horses one after another, then turned over and dismounted, and once again raised their iron bars and pointed them at the Hojo Army.
The Hojo samurai who had never seen iron cannons were completely confused by this strange action, and they all turned their attention to Hojo Ujiyao's horse seal - the latter wanted to continue to order a retreat, but the current situation and morale did not allow him to do so. Did it.
"Fire the arrow!" So Hojo Uyao came up with this last resort - it was better than doing nothing.
After receiving the order, the archers on the front line of the Hojo family bent their bows and set arrows, and rain of arrows flew away like locusts. However, at a distance of more than 30 feet, even if the Imagawa family horses only wore light armor, it was still difficult for bows and arrows to cause effective damage. A moment later, a burst of smoke rose in front of the Imagawa family's position, followed immediately by a deafening roar and whizzing projectiles.
A scream came from the vanguard of the Hojo family, and then a dozen people fell down - and this was when the distance was far enough. The soldiers of the Hojo family were in chaos up and down, and they had no idea what was going on. How come firecrackers were set off on the other side and people died on my side? The level of confusion was almost the same as that of Katsama Bei when he saw the iron cannon for the first time.
"I knew it would be like this." Hojo Ujiyao whipped the horse hard on the buttocks, and then cursed: "Don't be afraid, those are the enemy's weapons, bows and arrows ignited by fire, but they are reloaded once It’s going to take a long, long time! Rush forward now!”
However, the soldiers of the Hojo family were obviously frightened and did not immediately respond to Hojo Ujiyao's order. Instead, they all stood still where they were - while the Imagawa family's horsemen on the opposite side were already loading iron cannons. Hojo Ujiyao was so angry that he cursed and ordered his troops to continue retreating. As soon as they withdrew, the Imagawa family's horsemen mounted their horses again to pursue them. Hojo Ujiyao's troops were instantly in chaos, and began to retreat.
At this moment, Kasahara Nobuya's Hakubei and Tominaga Naosuke's Aobei came up from both sides of the official road and rushed towards the flanks of the Imagawa family's horsemen. They had just seen the firing of iron cannons in the distance. Although the soldiers were also shocked, after all, they had not been hit personally, so they could maintain a certain degree of calmness. The senior samurai who knew the iron cannon tried their best to explain the mechanism of the iron cannon to their subordinates in the shortest possible time, but they didn't know if it would work - at least they wouldn't be like Hojo Ujiyao's subordinates who were thrown into chaos after being fired at twice.
After seeing the two wings of the Hojo Army outflanking them, the Imagawa family's horsemen immediately divided into two teams and began loading ammunition against Bai Bei and Qing Bei on both sides. Seeing this, Nobu Kasahara chose to retreat to create a safe distance, but Naokatsu Tominaga thought of taking advantage of the Imagawa family's horse return to complete the reloading, charge into the formation, and command the troops to rush forward. When misunderstandings occur in communication, the consequences can be disastrous. When the Imagawa family returned to the crowd and saw that Kasahara had not come, they aimed all their iron cannons at Seibei. After two rounds of volleys, more than twenty of Qing Bei's soldiers fell, and the remaining soldiers were also severely shaken.
But Kasahara Nobuyuki discovered the fighter plane at this time
, taking advantage of the Imagawa family's returning horsemen who had no time to reload, the soldiers commanding Bai Bei pounced forward. Hojo Ujiyao, who was still thinking of ways to reorganize his troops, saw this and hurriedly led the surrounding Hatakemoto and samurai who could still command to charge towards the Imagawa family's position. However, the Imagawa family's horsemen did not panic, got on their horses one after another, and floated away surrounded by red bird horse prints. The Hojo family's ashigaru could not catch up, so the mounted samurai had to pursue them all the way, without giving the Imagawa family's horsemen a chance to reload.
However, the members of the Imagawa family remained calm. They took off their bows from their backs, bent their bows and nocked arrows. Then they turned around and shot a hail of arrows at the pursuing Hojo knights. The Hojo Army cavalry was already running very fast towards the direction of the arrows. If they were hit head-on by the arrows, no matter how well-armored they were, they would not be immune to serious injuries. Although most of the knights who were hit by arrows were not fatally injured, their riding speed was greatly reduced by the arrows, and many even fell off their horses. After several rounds of arrows, the cavalry pursued by the Hojo family had become sparse, and the leading samurai were aware of the danger - their numbers were getting smaller and smaller. If they continued to pursue, they were likely to be counterattacked by the Imagawa family's horsemen. Eat.
As a result, the Hojo family's cavalry sooner or later began to stop their pursuit and retreat. Seeing this, the members of the Imagawa family also stopped their horses, and began tinkering with the iron cannons on their horses, completing the work of changing bombs and loading. When he was ready, he turned around and rode forward again. The knights of the Hojo family were instantly in a dilemma and had no choice but to continue retreating, but the horsemen of the Imagawa family pressed all the way towards the main army.
"Damn it." Hojo Ujiyao was overwhelmed by the difficult situation in front of him. He didn't even know how to continue commanding. "Retreat first, then go back and explain to the whole army what iron cannon is, and then attack!"
"But your highness, the master's order is for us to..." several subordinates reminded uneasily.
"How can we fight now? Then Imagawajibu's Horsemen are just like bonbons. They can't be beaten, and they can't be caught up." Hojo Ujiyao said with a look of despair, waving his hands repeatedly: "All The army retreats together! Anyway, the goal of drawing the Imagawa army out of Katsurayama Castle can be considered as achieved. In this way, when the main force of the lord arrives at Katsurayama Castle tomorrow, he will face almost an empty city!"
As a result, the Hojo family began to retreat continuously, and the harassment and pursuit by the Kawakawa family's horsemen also continued. They would rush to a place very close to the Hojo family's guard, complete a round of shooting in the rain of arrows, and knock down several people. Then he stopped loading unhurriedly. After the loading was completed, he rode towards the rear guard again and completed the volley. The Hojo army was driven all the way. When they tried to fight back with cavalry several times, the Imagawa family's horsemen all ran away. Finally, the cavalry had to return, and the horsemen followed again.
This continued until the evening, after the Hojo family's cavalry made a last attempt to drive the Imagawa family's horses back to the crowd, the Imagawa family never returned - and never looked back. At this time, the Hojo family has been driven several miles into the Izu boundary, and it is impossible to reach Katsurayama Castle tomorrow.
"Calling it up." Looking at the Hojo family who were rectifying the chaos in the distance, Imagawa Yoshimoto hung his iron cannon on his back and snapped his fingers at his subordinates behind him. "Go back to Katsurayama Castle and rest for the night. Hello. Eat your horses and go deal with the main force of the Hojo family tomorrow."
