Shihe Yicun struck with a halberd, clearly using great strength, but it just felt like it was hitting cotton. It turned out that Imagawa Yoshimoto's hands did not directly block, but moved the knife sideways and forward, and in the flash of lightning, he removed most of the power of the blow. Toga Yoshimoto was already on his horse, unable to sustain his strength, and was actually pushed out by Imagawa Yoshimoto.
At this moment, Ji Liang Weicheng also rushed over, swung his giant sword, and smashed into Shihe Icun head-on and face-to-face. What Kira Usei is best at is his strength. If it were just a competition of strength, he could actually force Toga Issun to block with all his strength. But Imagawa Yoshimoto seized the opportunity, slapped his horse forward, and threw several positions away from Tokawa Issun.
"Chase!" Miyoshi Nagakei would never let Imagawa Yoshimoto leave. He immediately rode his horse past the entangled Toga Ichino and Kira Usei, and drove directly towards Imagawa Yoshimoto. Imagawa Yoshimoto waved his hand, and Kentaro Tasaki behind him clapped his horse knowingly and rushed out, stabbing Miyoshi Chokei with a knife in one hand, trying to gain a space for Imagawa Yoshimoto. Imagawa Yoshimoto then clamped the horse's belly, sat down and galloped like a horse. Although the equestrians of Miyoshi Chokei are all proud men in the military, their equestrian skills are still much worse than those of Imagawa Yoshimoto. On this complicated mountain road, Imagawa Yoshimoto was quickly separated by more than ten feet.
"I didn't expect it to be so easy..." Imagawa Yoshimoto looked at the getting closer and closer to the top of the mountain, turned his head and glanced at the pursuers who were left behind, and continued to silently speed up his horse. However, at the moment when he was about to leap to the top of the mountain, his innate keen sense of smell made him aware of the danger - he suddenly reined in the horse and stopped at the top of the mountain. The next moment, dozens of feathered arrows attacked like locusts from the valley below. Imagawa Yoshimoto hurriedly pressed the horse's head and bent down to avoid being shot into a hornet's nest. Turning around, I saw Miyoshi Changqing's horse seal waving - apparently he had given the order to the archers in the valley to fire a volley.
"Such a good place, naturally the archers have been ambushed for a long time." Miyoshi Nagakei, who arrived afterward, laughed and pointed at Imagawa Yoshimoto and said: "Why do you think you were able to break through so easily? It was intentional. I brought you here!"
A little cold sweat broke out on Imagawa Yoshimoto's forehead - with so many archers in the valley at the foot of the mountain, he had no chance to get to the side to watch the battle - he would be set on fire as soon as he showed his head. At this time, the pursuers behind him and his own horsemen also followed, but the Imagawa army was still at a disadvantage in terms of total numbers, and it was not an option to continue to entangle like this.
"Keep the distance!" Imagawa Yoshimoto pulled his horse away, and at the same time led his horse back to the crowd and started running towards another mountain road going down the mountain.
"Follow us! Don't let them move to other hills!" Sanhao Changqing also immediately led the crowd in hot pursuit.
"Load the gunpowder!" Imagawa Yoshimoto suddenly gave an order to the horsemen, each armed with an iron cannon.
"Your Highness, it's too difficult!" Himura Hiroyuki shouted to Imagawa Yoshimoto: "This kind of mountain road is difficult to walk. The distance between the two sides is so close. There is no chance to make such a complicated loading action!"
"No need to reload, no need to compact, just plug in gunpowder!" Yoshimoto Imagawa ordered loudly without explanation, and the horseback warriors saw this and followed the order one after another.
"Are you crazy? You still want to use iron cannons now?" Miyoshi Nagakei disapproved after seeing the movements of the Imagawa family's horses returning to the crowd. Although for safety reasons, he slowed down his horse slightly and asked his subordinates to push forward. But after all, he is also the controller of Sakai Town, so he is naturally familiar with this new weapon. "In such a bumpy place, if you are chasing me, how will you get the chance to use the iron cannon? Chase after me!"
Under the leadership of Imagawa Yoshimoto, the Imagawa family's horseback clan's movement trajectory became erratic. Instead of running to another hilltop, he circled around the mountain road and ran back to the place where Imagawa Yoshimoto was almost ambushed by random arrows.
"What does this mean?" Miyoshi Nagakei, who was chasing closely behind him, felt increasingly strange. He had been staring at the movements of the Imagawa family's horsemen with all his attention. They had clearly only completed the first step of loading the iron cannon—— Loading gunpowder without inserting projectiles or compacting them makes it impossible to fire. Then if they ran to the foot of the mountain like this, wouldn't they become the target of the archers without any chance of fighting back?
Although Miyoshi Nagakei is puzzled, the best solution at the moment is to continue chasing Imagawa Yoshimoto. Just as they were about to force the Imagawa family's horsemen to the foot of the mountain, an unexpected situation suddenly happened.
As soon as Imagawa Yoshimoto gave an order, the Imagawa family's horsemen all fired and pulled the triggers, firing in the direction of the valley below - after a roar, smoke rose, but there was no scream or wailing at all - —Because there were obviously no bullets in those iron cannons.
"What do you mean?" Sanhao Changqing frowned unconsciously, "Except for making some cigarettes, it's not useful for anything..."
etc!
Miyoshi Nagakei finally realized what Imagawa Yoshimoto's purpose was.
Gunsmoke!
Although the volley of iron cannons did not cause any casualties, the smoke that spewed out directly obscured the vision of the archers of the Sanhao Army below the valley - they could not see the enemy's position clearly now!
Imagawa Yoshimoto also took the opportunity to get to the high point at the foot of the mountain and began to observe the battle situation from a high position. At the same time, the horseback warriors of the Imagawa family turned over to respond to the enemy, trying to hold off the pursuing Miyoshi Army and buy time for Imagawa Yoshimoto.
Miyoshi Changqing frantically shook his horse seal, trying to direct his archers to shoot blindly into the smoke. However, it took him a moment to realize that the archers whose vision was obscured by the smoke could not see his horse seal. of instructions issued. In other words, he had completely lost control of that force.
·
Gaining a high point of view, the situation is instantly clear. But Imagawa Yoshimoto also knew that the time left for him was only a few dozen breaths before the smoke cleared. He wanted to see clearly the movements of the entire Northern Army, determine what orders Miyoshi Nagakei had just given when he commanded, and then pass the information to Takeda Harunobu.
In the Sanjusangendo Hall on the east bank of the Kamogawa River, the Maori Army of the Northern Army was stationed. To the north, the Hatano Army and Yusa Army, which were originally stationed at Kenninji Temple, have already moved south. They have passed Rokuparamiji Temple and seem to be rushing to Takio Shrine to support the Otomo Army who is assaulting south. Both the Hatano family and the Yusa family have close ties with the Miyoshi family, and their actions were obviously inspired by Miyoshi Nagakei. The Otomo Army almost controlled Takio Shrine and tried to advance further south. To the northeast of them, the Hojo Army, which was still besieging the New Riyoshi Shrine, saw that it was about to get dumped, and hurriedly withdrew to Chisakein.
On the west bank of the Kamogawa River, the Urakami family and the Akamatsu family in the Hedoji Temple northeast of Shin-Zenkoji Temple both raised flags and seemed to be preparing for battle. The Ouchi army withdrew to Oizumi Temple to the west of Pinghe Temple and built a new line of defense. To their south, a large number of Southern Army banners besieged the Nizi Army in Yuanjiao Temple, but no one had the intention to launch an offensive first.
In the northernmost part - Zenchoji Temple north of Heiyoji Temple, the Yamana Army and the Kono Army, which were the last reserves of the Northern Army, also took action. They did not set up defenses on the west bank of the Kamogawa River, but were crossing the Shijo Bridge to Kennin. Temple, apparently wanting to cooperate with the large-scale offensive launched by the Northern Army on the east bank of the Kamogawa River.
Compared with the plan before the war, this has undergone earth-shaking changes. Who would have thought that the east bank of the Kamogawa River, which was originally a feint attack, would become the main battlefield; the west bank of the Kamogawa River, which would have ended in a sit-in and see-saw, turned into a mess; and the Oda army, which was originally thrown out as abandoned children, now charged instead Arriving at the west bank of the Kamogawa River - the reason why the whole battle situation became so chaotic is probably due to Oda Nobunaga's mischief, right?
"Koichiro, pass the order to this formation." Imagawa Yoshimoto completed his overview and thoughts on the battle situation in an instant, and then said to Hayasaka Nao who was holding the red bird horse seal behind him: "Let His Highness Takeda send the troops sent to the west bank. After being transferred back to defend Tofukuji Temple, the main force of the Northern Army is gathering towards the east bank and rushing towards his command position! First comes the Otomo Army, followed by the Maori Army, and then the Hatano Army, Yusa Army, Yamana Army and Kono Army."
"But Your Highness, we and the Takeda family use two sets of flags. Even if we are familiar with each other, we may not be able to convey so much information." Hayasaka Nao looked embarrassed.
Imagawa Yoshimoto glanced at the smoke that was gradually dissipating, and realized that he could no longer care about so much, so he said solemnly: "Send an envoy to take a detour to inform the details. If Ma Yin says it, tell His Highness Takeda to send people back to support our formation. , the main force of the Northern Army is on the east coast!"
The red bird horse seal swayed anxiously, warning Takeda Harunobu who was several miles away. I didn't know if he could find it in time. But Imagawa Yoshimoto had no chance to stay any longer. As the smoke gradually faded away, the Miyoshi family's archers finally saw the enemy close at hand and Miyoshi Nagakei's order, and the arrow rain struck again. Imagawa Yoshimoto had no choice but to retreat with his men on horseback, retreating from the western foot of Mount Otowa, and rendezvoused with Gomaobei and Shoudunbei who were fighting fiercely with the Miyoshi family banner.
Fortunately, Takeda Harunobu on the top of Mount Keihi happened to be commanding the troops to fight when he noticed the red bird horse seal that appeared and then disappeared on Otowa Mountain.
"What do you mean... return to support our formation? The main force is in the east?" As a master of military strategy, Takeda Harunobu is familiar with the flags of his allies, the Imagawa family, far beyond Hayasaka Nao's imagination - but even so, in a hurry, Can't read any more information.
He looked down at the Otomo Army that was still attacking fiercely, the retreating Tsutsui Army, and the Kitahata Army that had just faced them. He then looked at the only reserve force at hand - his own 8,000 Takeda Army, and gradually realized The embarrassment of the situation.
There are probably a lot of Northern troops who have not yet appeared on the battlefield. If any of them reach the east coast and break through to the south in one go - the Southern Army's frontline command position will be reduced to nothing. By then, the Confederate army fighting all over Kyoto will be leaderless and completely defeated.
"Send an order to bring back the Asai Army and the Wakasa Takeda Army." Takeda Harunobu hurriedly sent a messenger to the west bank of the Kamogawa River, and at the same time arranged for someone to go to the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine in the south. "Notify His Highness again! Although I don’t want to cause trouble, but the moment may come when the Hosokawa Army must take action! Otherwise, there is a risk that the Southern Army will collapse!”
