A tour of Japan's Warring States Period

A discerning person looks at the doorway, a layman looks at the excitement. The march of this army was actually full of tests for its commander.

An army of more than 6,000 people is neither too much nor too little. The front line was Koheita's team. The general, Hosokawa Saimemasaichi, was a very young samurai, but his muscular body of over 1.5 meters proved that he must have eaten well and exercised well.

But he definitely lacks experience. It is said that this is his first battle. The person who really commanded these more than 300 people must be the grey-haired old samurai next to him. The samurai was indeed constantly issuing instructions and serving as the military commander of this small team.

The old samurai looked quite irritable, and usually had a serious face. Although there are no scars on the face to scare the soldiers, the aura is already very intimidating.

Every day when it was still dark, the old warrior would get up and instruct everyone to boil water and make tea, and use fried rice to make soup and tea for breakfast. As soon as daybreak, we packed up everything and set off, preparing the streets and smoothing them along the way. A long-footed warrior was left at intervals to serve as a messenger and arranged for knights on horseback to come and go to explore the road. After reaching noon, we chose a large open area to set up camp. We set up the previously cut wood as horse fences, divided the camp, marked water sources, and collected firewood.

Fortunately, Xiao Pingtai's team was equipped with vehicles and pack horses because they were the vanguard. Otherwise, if more than 300 people had to carry so many things for the camp, it would drag people to death.

Therefore, being the vanguard of ancient marches required soldiers to be brave and brave, but also to be able to endure hardships and stand hard work. For no other reason, because the vanguard may fight first and then have to work along the way, which is a hard job. Unless he can make great achievements in the first battle, it will be very uncomfortable.

Moreover, these things are extremely trivial. You don’t understand many things without being experienced in the military. You have been a veteran for many years. This kind of thing is more often taught by words and deeds, passed down from father to son, and those who survive three rolls in a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood can probably learn it all.

After the vanguard set up camp, the soldiers from each team in the rear formation entered the camp in sequence according to the layout. It was not until four or five o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun had set, that the daimyo's main formation arrived, followed closely by the rear formation. In fact, it was not that they walked slowly, but that the road was so wide, and the daimyo did not start setting off until noon, so in fact the entire army only marched for half a day.

Only then did Koheita understand why there were only two to three thousand people around Imagawa Yoshimoto when he died. Matsudaira Motoyasu of the Imagawa Front was attacking Narumi Castle, and the other troops attacked each village in order. The army marched along the streets in order, one after another, but it was a surprise attack due to heavy rain, and the troops in front and behind had no time to rescue.

In short, I saw that the old warriors were marching in a very orderly manner and were well prepared. At first glance, they looked like the kind of talents who had been fighting bad wars for more than thirty years. Xiao Pingtai felt that his life protection was one more point.

Three days later, the entire army arrived at Shirakawa Fangashiyama Castle on the border. As a branch city on the border, they had already heard the news and called on nearby farmers to defend the city. However, it seemed that they did not want to capture the city from the beginning. The city general sent a letter and agreed to join the battle at the city gates the next day. So the army was not in a hurry to attack the city, and began to make bamboo bundles and build watchtowers. They sent troops on the spot to collect life-saving money from each village and at the same time incited the people.

Early the next morning, there was a loud sound of Dharma conch in the city. About a thousand people filed out of the city and formed a formation under the city.

News also came from the Yamauchi side main camp. Hosokawa Saime is on the left wing, Isshiki Miyauchi is on the lead, Konishiharazaemon is on the right wing, and Oishi Saburo is on the rear. A total of more than 1,600 people are facing off.

Kodaira saw that he was in a position of containment on the left wing, and then looked at the special-shaped two-lead and two-horse flag he was holding, and decided to be a quiet little flag holder and stay behind the crowd to fish.

The horse seal opposite has the words Hachiman Bodhisattva on one side and a fan tattoo on the other. Due to his identity, Xiaoheita doesn't know which one is opposite. Moreover, the opponent is obviously only decent in the middle. The two wings are composed of ordinary farmers who are slightly armed, and there are only a few ashigaru.

Xiaopingta sighed and said, "That's all." Then he followed the large group of people and moved forward.

As for the battle process, the three-stage combined attack, the linkage of spears and quilts, the dragon cavalry flying shooting, etc. did not happen. It is not that they do not exist, but that both sides do not have the equipment training and level.

Only the ashigaru in the front row could poke a few times with a second gun. The iron cannons couldn't afford it, and they didn't even make a few pretentious snaps. I only have a few bows and arrows to shoot from time to time, but the arrows cost money, right? It didn’t take long for the tentative contact to be completed. They fought without passion for about ten minutes. Xiaopingta found that he seemed to be running a little fast. The two armies that were originally parallel lines had turned into a U-shape. The opponent had been compressed into the middle of the U, and there was also a three-dimensional encirclement. one.

However, Koheita discovered that he was already deep in the vicinity of the Hachiman Daimyojin flag with his two yin ryo and a small white flag on his back. There were only two or three ashigaru members of the clan fishing around, and it was obvious that more than a dozen warriors under the Daimyojin banner were surrounding a middle-aged man. samurai, and looked towards him. Or in other words, from the perspective of the Er Yin Liang and the small white flag of Genji he held.