In May and June, the weather was already a bit hot. Kogoro opened his chest clothes and panted like a bellows. His feet had long been numb, but he still kept walking forward mechanically.
The comrades around him were all similar to Kogoro. They didn't seem to be marching, but rather fleeing.
They had just returned from running towards Namba Kyo from Owata Tomari.
This was really torturous. It was a full one hundred and seventy miles from Namba Kyo to Owata Tomo. They had just arrived at Owada Tomo and only stayed for seven or eight days before they were urgently asked to return.
Long-distance marches, especially long-distance marches where soldiers feel they have taken the wrong path, have a very serious impact on morale.
This was how Kogoro felt now. He was extremely tired, and the patriotism that had just arisen in his heart suddenly disappeared.
In his imagination, he, Kogoro, should be holding a tachi, charging into the enemy formation and killing them. Even if he is outnumbered, he is still a heroic son who serves his country loyally.
However, reality gave him a blow, and all his enthusiasm disappeared in the disgraced face of running back and forth.
Fujiwara Hidego is accompanied by the left minister Fujiwara Minori. The two are from the same clan. Although Fujiwara Hidego is a branch of the Shosect, he has the power to kill Taira Shogun, and the Eastern Kingdom samurai is known as a good warrior.
When it comes to the need to rely on military personnel, Minister Zuo is still very polite to the corporal, not to mention that he is a member of his own family.
Fujiwara Hidego is riding on a not too short Hokkaido horse. This kind of pony is usually only four feet tall, which is one meter two and three meters tall. Of course, there is a small chance that a tall horse can be produced.
Fujiwara Hidego was the guardian of a country, so it was naturally impossible for him to ride a pony. The brown Hokkaido horse under his crotch was five feet tall. In the Japanese country, it was considered a very sacred horse.
Fujiwara Hidego was extremely anxious when he saw that the team was stretching for more than ten miles and was in chaos. To maintain order, he could only rely on a bunch of subordinates and military attachés with the title of Guardsman (Bingei, Guards), second lieutenants, etc.
Whether this army is strong or not can be seen just by looking at the march. The imperial court has not dispatched tens of thousands of people to fight for hundreds of years, so the scheduling is a mess and it cannot be said to be very strong.
As far as Fujiwara Hidego knew, Yan Kou was from Andong and was always good at cavalry. Although he had never seen what Chinese cavalry looked like, he had seen the Ezo cavalry.
Although there are few people, they are strong, fast and good at making surprise attacks. I think this is also the case with the Yankou cavalry.
On the other hand, the march on our side was in complete disarray. Once we were attacked, we would be in doom.
Thinking of this, Fujiwara Hidego rode his horse and rushed to the left minister Fujiwara Minori and said:
"Zuofu, our army is about to arrive outside Namba Kyoto. It is a flat plain and is extremely vulnerable to raids by Yan bandits. I would like to lead fifty of my elite cavalry to go forward to cover and conduct reconnaissance for the army."
The word war did not make a deep impression on Fujiwara Minori's mind at all, because the Japanese country had never fought any wars. Of course, he could not imagine how ferocious the Central Plains cavalry was.
Minister Zuo did not have a deep understanding of the dangers of marching. He could not see the dangers at all, but since Fujiwara Hidego was willing to serve as a knight, he had no objection.
Fujiwara Minori looked at Fujiwara Hidego with a smile and said: "With the help of Kamikokushou, the army will be as stable as Mount Tai. I will allocate fifty more Fujiwara family knights to you to guard against Yan bandits."
In the Japanese administrative system, the prefectures and counties affiliated to each province are also divided into large countries, upper countries, Chinese countries, and lower countries.
The government department is divided into four levels: Shou, Jie, Rong, and Mu. Among them, Shou is the top leader, Jie is the deputy, and Rong is the third in rank. They are usually local wealthy families, and the head is the secretary, and the ones below are the officials.
Fujiwara Hidego was Shimono Mamoru, who was the fourth descendant, and Shimono was one of the superiors, so Fujiwara Minori affectionately called him Kamio no Mamoru, which obviously meant to win over him.
However, Fujiwara Hidego didn't think so much at all. A soldier's intuition about crises made him feel that something big was going to happen.
He immediately arched his hand, and immediately left the formation with a hundred riders in a hurry, and went to explore the front.
Along the way, the walking soldiers suddenly cheered in unison when they saw the hundred horses of Fujiwara Hidego.
Because this kind of cavalry with one person and two horses, most of which have iron armor and strong bows hanging on the sides of the horses, is an extremely powerful force for the Japanese country.
Due to the small plains of this Japanese country, there are not many cavalry. In addition, there are several small plains in Kanto and Hokkaido where their opponents, the Ezo people, live. Therefore, most of the Ezo people can ride horses and shoot arrows.
In order to counter them, the Japanese formed this kind of cavalry that wore armor or evolved from armor and was painted in red and black.
In addition, they also like to criticize strange cloaks in black and red to make themselves look powerful.
This kind of heavy armored cavalry, which is somewhat strange in the eyes of the Chinese, is one of the sources of the later Japanese knights in three-color mother uniforms.
Moreover, after shooting the legendary and invincible Taira Shomon, Fujiwara Hidego was also regarded as a brave general among the Japanese warriors and had a very high reputation. These samurai knew that it was Fujiwara Hidego who was passing by, so they were even more excited.
However, Fujiwara Hidego didn't have the energy to listen to these compliments. He now wanted to know whether Yodogawa was still under his control.
The Yodogawa is the most important river in Namba and Osaka. At this time, the urban area of Osaka was still on the east bank of the Yodogawa. Therefore, the Yodogawa did not pass through the city as it did in later generations, but acted as a moat.
But at the same time, if the enemy cuts off the bridge over the Yodo River, they can block their 50,000 to 60,000 troops outside Namba Kyo-Osaka Castle.
By that time, the city's defenses will be empty, and those outside the city will have no supplies, and the end will come.
Just when Fujiwara Hidego was furious, a brave general from afar led seventy or eighty cavalry to gallop over. This man was Taira Sadamori who had conquered the Taira Shomen together with Fujiwara Hidego.
"Fujiwara-kun, are you going to Yodogawa? The Taira family is here to help."
Ping Zhensheng asked from a distance. He was worthy of being a general of the Japanese country in Kanto. Almost at the same time, both of them realized something was wrong.
Fujiwara Hidego burst out laughing when he saw Taira Sadamori, and the shadow in his heart seemed to dissipate a lot, "Taira-kun is still so loyal and patriotic, so let's go and defend Yodogawa together."
Ping Zhensheng also laughed a few times and said, "The Yan invaders are elite. If you want to go, go as many as possible. What can these two hundred people do?"
As he spoke, Taira Sadamori shouted to the Japanese who were watching them: "Here is Lord Fujiwara, the shou of Ueno Province, who is going to explore the Yodo River. Is there any brave warrior who dares to accompany him and meet the Yan bandits first?"
Following Taira Sadamori's shouts, many subordinates with estates, elite noble warriors, and people with the titles of military guards and guards responded, and soon two thousand people gathered. Multiple people.
Fujiwara Hidego glanced at Taira Sadamori approvingly. Although the two of them had not discussed it, they felt in their hearts that the Yan invaders had already landed in Wakayama and were very likely to come for a surprise attack.
Immediately, Fujiwara Hidego said to the more than two thousand people gathered: "Since you all trust me Hidego, we might as well make our agreement more clearly.
Those who are willing to obey orders and not act without permission can stay. After defeating the Yan invaders, they will receive a big reward.
If you are just here to join in the fun, then please come back. This love belongs to Fujiwara Hidego. "
Since these subordinates and warriors can take the initiative, it proves that they are indeed some brave people. It is naturally impossible for such people to retreat at this time, and they all expressed their willingness to obey orders.
So Fujiwara Hidego struck while the iron was hot and immediately formed a regiment of these two thousand people. He served as the military commander, Taira Sadamori as the captain, and there were various official positions such as brigade commander, team captain and so on.
Good guy, if in the Great Zhou Dynasty, a noble man dared to form an army privately while the army was marching, let alone himself, the whole family would lose their heads.
But in Japan, this is extremely normal.
After the collapse of the squadron system, the army model formed by local police officers could not fight regular battles at all. Therefore, in critical moments, it is the most effective to restore the army model of military Yi-Colonel-Brigade Commander-Team Commander.
. . . . .
When it comes to saying that heroes in the world should not be underestimated, Fujiwara Hidego and Hei Sadamori are really right.
After Murong Nobunaga led his army to force Tachibana Enho back to Osaka Castle, he immediately left Xiang Xun, who had not yet left to join the feudal clan, to hold on. The army also set up many flags and drums, and even pretended to build siege equipment.
But Murong Nobunaga himself led a cavalry of 5,000 men composed of Murong Yanchao, Helian Hailong, Yuan Yanchao, Zhao Siwan, Zhang Jianxiong, Yelu Guizhong, Riruge and other powerful generals, quietly crossed Osaka Castle to attack the slaves. The main force of the Japanese army returned from Kobe.
The reason why the fight was so risky was because Nobunaga also encountered a lot of trouble.
Ever since the army took the risk of crossing the sea in winter, the number of people with frostbite and colds in the army has increased day by day.
Before the conquest of Awaji Island, the number of people who were acclimatized began to increase. If it hadn't been for more than ten days of repairs on Awaji Island, the situation would have been even more serious.
Originally, he, Murong Nobunaga, had ordered an army of 30,000 people and more than 10,000 sailors, totaling more than 40,000 people.
But now, in addition to the seven or eight thousand people stationed in Dazaifu, Akama Pass and Itsukushima, there are only more than 20,000 people who are 100% healthy.
Among them, the weaker eight thousand were in the hands of Wang Jing and Li Hanqiong. Some of them were keeping an eye on Ono Haogu, and some of their fine cavalry were lingering behind the main force of the Japanese army.
Among the remaining 14,000 to 5,000 people, there are still 2,000 on Awaji Island, around Murong Nobunaga, that is, about 12,000 to 3,000 people.
In terms of number of people, Murong Nobunaga should have sent the fewest troops among the conquerors of all dynasties.
He came to conquer the Japanese country, and now he only had 12,000 to 3,000 available troops. However, except for Ono Haogu, who could not move, the Japanese army still had more than 70,000 people, and the number was still increasing.
At the same time, the Osaka Plain where Heian-kyo, Heijo-kyo, and Namba-kyo are located has a population of more than 700,000. At the last moment, it is possible to pull out another 50,000 strong men.
Although the enemy is weak, it is still troublesome when there are many of them.
It's not that you can't defeat them, but it's that it's difficult to control them after defeating them. If you can't control these populations effectively, you will fall into the quagmire of war.
Therefore, Murong Nobunaga, who had not personally gone into battle for a long time, personally led five thousand fine cavalry to raid the main force of the Japanese army, striving to completely defeat their administrative command capabilities in one battle.
. . . .
The Yodogawa River loomed in the distance, and Fujiwara Hidego even heard the sound of the Yodogawa water flowing. As far as the eye could see, the green rice seedlings were undulating in the wind. It seemed like it was another good year.
Taira Sadamori also followed up on his horse. Seeing that the bridge over the Yodo River was still intact, he immediately felt relieved.
Namba Kyo, also known as Osaka, has a terrain low in the west and high in the east. As long as the army can return to the city, even if the outer city cannot be defended, the Mori-nomiya area in the east city has high terrain and a dense water network, which is enough to hold on.
Fujiwara Hidego pointed to a dense forest in the northeast and said, "If I remember correctly, there should be a small fort there.
He also asked Pingjun to lead 600 elites to camp, and a certain person to set up a stronghold around the bridge. As long as the Zuofu army returns to its position, everything will be safe. "
"Here!" At this time, the upper class of the Japanese people sang Tangyin. Ping Zhensheng crossed his hands and sang "here", and he was immediately ready to lead people there.
However, before he had fully gathered the knights under his command, he saw birds flying wildly in the dense forest, branches rustling despite the strong wind, and occasionally there was the faint sound of horse hooves.
Fujiwara Hidego was shocked, "It was almost dusk at this time, and the returning birds suddenly started to fly in the forest. There must be an army coming!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the thunderous sound of horse hooves sounded, and countless silver-white figures suddenly rushed out from the woods in the northeast.
They wore silver-white cotton armor and silver battle robes, and held silver-white hard bows. They were like cranes with their arms outstretched, attacking from both sides.
"What a tall war horse, so fast!" Taira Sadamori's face turned pale, and he shouted to Fujiwara Hidego:
"The Yan invaders are here, and they are indeed the Shang Kingdom's cavalry. Warriors from the East Kingdom, follow me to intercept the enemy invaders!"
Having said that, Taira Sadamori, the leader, quickly put a piece of armor on his body. He gathered more than 300 cavalry and intercepted the roaring Yankou cavalry on the left flank, hoping to interrupt the opponent's offensive and build a knot for Fujiwara Hidego. Array creates time.
It's just a pity that he has so much strength, but his equipment is so poor.
At this time, the Hokkaido horses used by the Kanto samurai were too short. Although their legs were thick and fat and could bear weight, their sprinting speed was really impressive.
And more importantly, the cavalry that the Kanto warriors faced in the past were the Ezo cavalry of the fishing and hunting tribe who were smaller in number than them and had no fighting skills. Therefore, most of them did not pay attention to coordinated operations, and they focused more on personal bravery. The so-called one It was at this time that riding and fighting arose.
Ping Zhensheng looked menacing, but in Riruge they looked a bit ridiculous. The Japanese were riding ponies that were similar to donkeys, and the ponies were also short. They looked like a group of children on the grassland.
Riluge was surrounded by prairie hussars selected from 120,000 prairie households. Seeing the Japanese cavalry thrusting towards their waists, Riluge whistled fiercely, and the knights around him immediately roared in response. The upper and lower minds were connected, and they immediately gave up the attack and rode their horses to circle far away.
Ping Zhengsheng secretly complained that the galloping ability of their war horses was not as good as that of the opponent, but the opponent chose to avoid it without practicing martial arts in order to consume their horse power. It was really shameless!
As a result, such a strange scene appeared on the battlefield. Taira Sadamori's cavalry was originally intended to intercept, and the effect was achieved. He did cut off some of the cavalry on the opponent's left wing from charging, but he couldn't even follow them. No hair was caught.
What's even more frightening is that the opponent's formation is not chaotic, and they are obviously walking him like a dog!
Feeling insulted, Ping Zhen was furious. He was still considering whether to continue the pursuit, but the knights under his command had already rushed out.
These people usually rely on their personal bravery to earn a living. Once they get so excited on the battlefield, they don't care about formations or teams.
Besides, we didn’t need such complicated tactics to fight the Ezo cavalry in the past!
Oh, when Riruge saw that these little dwarfs were brainless, he immediately became even more happy, and immediately led his grassland athletes to spread out further in an oval shape.
Finally, after chasing for two to three hundred steps, the Japanese cavalry finally felt that they could no longer pursue them.
Because people's excitement has passed, adrenaline is decreasing crazily, and the little donkey-like war horse is so tired that it is sweating profusely and foaming at the mouth and can no longer run.
At this time, Riruge whistled again, and hundreds of prairie cavalry galloped back. The Japanese were shocked. Regardless of the fact that their horses were approaching their limit, they immediately urged them forward.
Hey, when Ziruge saw that they could still move, he immediately called on his knights to retreat and not come into contact with them.
This made the Japanese cavalry so angry that they vomited blood. Ping Zhengsheng also felt the seriousness of the problem at this time. He shouted loudly and asked his cavalry to take off their heavy armor and quickly change horses to ride.
But as soon as they changed their horses, Ziluge's cavalry came again in overwhelming numbers.
This time it was not a lie, because the Japanese's physical strength was at a critical point, and they were still in the middle of switching equipment.
In an instant, hundreds of prairie cavalry passed around the Japanese cavalry. The sophisticated horse bows in their hands rained arrows on the Japanese cavalry like raindrops.
Taira Sadamori and others howled in pain. Unable to increase their speed, they could only use their horses as a barrier and fight back with short bows in their hands.
But they were basically stationary. On the contrary, the prairie cavalry were constantly rotating around them. Not to mention the horse speed bonus, they were also harder to hit.
What's more important is that these grassland cavalry are Zhang Shengren's elite, and the bows in their hands and the armor on their bodies are not comparable to those of the Japanese.
After a fierce and passionate exchange of fire, countless proud and brave Japanese cavalry fell to the ground. It was not until the remaining people gathered together and used flat shields to protect everyone that the number of arrows began to decrease.
However, at this time, it was their end.
Riruge waved his hand, and just now he was not on the stage. Thirty brave cavalrymen rushed forward on horseback. In just a few breaths, they charged directly and smashed through the Japanese who had gathered together.
Then Ziruge's hussars held fine steel sabers, followed the hussars' assault route, and started harvesting directly.
Ping Zhengsheng raised his spear in despair, and before he could roar, a wrought copper mace hit him on the head.
Then the cavalry whizzing past greeted him with various weapons. Even though the brave general was smashed and his brains burst, he was unable to kill a single enemy.
And these are just small episodes, the real battle started on Fujiwara Hidego's side.
The person who dealt with Fujiwara Hidego was the white-robed silver saddle Akihiro personally led by Murong Nobunaga.
Since the war horses were all extremely fast Kasai Ryoma, Taira Sadamori actually did not buy much time for Fujiwara Hidego.
When Fujiwara Hidego and his cavalry put on their armor and mounted their horses, Akiyoshiro Akihiro, a white-robed and silver-saddled man, charged forward to a distance of seventy or eighty steps.
The companions and servants of the Japanese warriors desperately tried to stop them with wooden spears, buying their warriors a short and precious time.
However, the storm of arrows violently knocked these servants, who didn't even have a piece of bamboo armor, to the ground.
Many Li Cong didn't even see the enemy's appearance clearly, and were already struggling on the ground with their necks covered.
This cavalry charge, far superior to that of the Ezo people, broke their fragile hearts in an instant. They didn't even have time to cry. Many of them gave way to the attacking white-robed silver-saddled Akihiro the moment their comrades fell. The passage is opened.
Murong Nobunaga rushed to the front with his bright silver spear in hand, accompanied by the most elite Fifty Horsemen confidants.
Here were the sons of the Murong family in Guazhou and the old Tuyuhun tribe in the Hehuang Valley. They formed the sharpest arrows and rushed towards the Japanese cavalry who had completed their armor but had not yet started running.
Thirty steps later, everyone followed Murong Nobunaga's movements and uniformly took out the horned crossbows at their waists.
By this time, Zhang Zhou's horned crossbows were more sophisticated and smaller than those of the Tang Dynasty.
The strength is only about one stone per stone, but it is still much stronger than a horse bow. Its small size allows it to be aimed with one hand, making it very suitable for use when charging on horseback.
To put it bluntly, this is a blunderbuss that can only be used once in the cold weapon era.
It avoids the problem that the horse bow must be turned sideways to be accurate when charging. It also solves the problem of the horse bow being weak and weak, but it can only be used once.
But this is enough. In thirty steps, the power of killing three or four stones with one stone is unparalleled.
The Japanese knights who could only wear inferior armor-hanging armor fell off their horses one after another, making way for the impact of the white-robed and silver-saddled Akihiro.
Fujiwara Hidego looked at all this in despair. The enemy came too fast. He started to accelerate slowly after three hundred steps, and within one hundred steps he was racing like lightning.
In the Japanese country, the only one who could run at such a speed was the brown cloud under his crotch. However, the enemy had thousands of horses like this, which was enough to see how huge the gap between the two sides was.
In despair, Fujiwara Hidego wore a large red armor, which he pulled off Taira Shomon.
The reason why the rebel who calls himself the emperor has a reputation of being invulnerable in the Eastern Kingdom is actually because of this set of armor.
Murong Nobunaga also looked at the Japanese general opposite. It had been a long time since anyone had dared to raise a spear in front of him in provocation.
The good boy first commanded his subordinate Akihiro to disperse Fujiwara Hidego's cavalry, and then killed them one by one, leaving only the Japanese general who seemed to be the leader.
Fujiwara Hidego took a deep breath and slowly began to accelerate. His target had been pointed out to him by the Yan Kou surrounding him.
He was a thief general wrapped in silver armor. He was tall and handsome. Even if he was an enemy, he would praise his appearance when he saw him.
Murong Nobunaga also slowly rode forward, and by the time he reached twenty steps, he was already 80% sure that he could dismount the Japanese general opposite him with just one shot.
But at this moment, the Japanese general on the opposite side threw away his spear at an extremely fast speed, and at the same time took out an exquisitely designed crossbow from his arms, and then activated the mechanism.
This is Fujiwara Hidego's unique skill. His ancestor was a member of the envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty. By chance, he learned the method of making this small crossbow arrow from the Tang Dynasty. Then he hid the broom as a family secret. arms.
The reason why Fujiwara Hidego was able to defeat the so-called invincible Taira Shomon was that he suddenly released a crossbow when he got close, knocking the unsuspecting Taira Shomon to the ground.
Today, Fujiwara Hidego is also counting on it to work.
But just as Fujiwara Hidego pulled the trigger, the horse under his crotch screamed and knocked him off his back.
It turned out that Murong Nobunaga had a crossbow installed on the side of his horse. With a tap of his toes, the crossbow arrow penetrated the chest and abdomen of his mount before Fujiwara Hidego made a sneak attack.
With this fall, the crossbow arrows fired from the short crossbow in Fujiwara Hidego's hand flew to nowhere. He fell off his horse in a spin and was quickly captured.
"Why? Why do you want to invade our hometown?"
After the proud armor, BMW and divine crossbow all worked in front of the enemy, Fujiwara Hidego was pinned to the ground and only felt angry.
He raised his head angrily and looked at Murong Nobunaga who looked down at him like a god with resentment and confusion.
"Why? Huh!" The big boy snorted coldly, "Supreme God tells me that if you fail to raise your father up, the roots will be twisted away from you, and those who came before you will have to pay the price for what the future generations have done!"
Fujiwara Hidego looked confused after hearing this. He had no idea what Murong Nobunaga meant by this sentence.
However, he didn't need to know it soon, because a strong man looked at him with red triangular eyes and salivated, and said in a hoarse voice:
"Finally, a certain family has waited. Is this the number one warrior of Japan?
Your guts must be the most delicious and powerful. Enjoy it. A certain Zhao Siwan will eat more than a thousand guts and become invincible in the world, hahahaha! "
"Why? How do I know why?" The old man muttered, then smiled.
"As long as you know that what your father said is right, that's fine."
(End of chapter)
