July 15 was originally a day to pay homage to ancestors and pray for blessings.

The Obon Festival, also known as the "Chuwon Festival", has a history of nearly 1,000 years since the Tang Dynasty and was passed down to Fuso with the Dongdu monks in the Asuka period.

This is one of the most important festivals of the year, and Ogasawara Nobuko, the lord of Takatenjin Castle who has just broken the siege, squeezes money out of his teeth, builds a bonsai, lights a fire, prepares special foods such as rice and flour cakes, and makes the soldiers and their families dress up and dance together as a celebration gift.

At the same time, he also resolutely refused the invitation to send troops to pursue.

Ikeda Hengxing couldn't make sense with him, so he got up early before dawn to nibble on his rations and took people east on his own.

Guided by ninjas, scouts, and locals, two hours after setting out, we crossed a small river called "Kikunogawa" and found signs of the Takeda family at a narrow mouth called "Tanno Valley".

As we leave the plains of Tokaido and enter the Fuji Mountains, the road beneath your feet is becoming rough.

Regardless of the danger, Ikeda Hengxing personally stepped forward to inspect it, and saw that the Takeda army was tossing and turning in the hills, moving slowly and in a long and narrow line, and especially the baggage team was inconvenient to turn, as if the end could not be taken care of.

He immediately made a decision, ordered two cronies, each with a hundred strong men, dozens of iron cannons, abandon the horse, and go over the mountains and detours from the left and right, creating the illusion of attack.

It only took a moment for the Takeda Army to discover the pursuers, and they all shouted in panic and became vigilant.

However, they are in a narrow valley, and it is difficult to move, and there seems to be no good way to deal with them for a while, except to fight on their own.

At the rear, the two or three hundred non-commissioned officers with spears stopped at the call of the officer, turned around, stood in three rows, raised their weapons, shouted loudly, and formed a formation of guns.

The valley mouth in front of him was only fifty paces wide, and it was really helpless to be stopped by this gun array. Ikeda had no choice but to dismount and form a formation of his own troops, and marched forward in unison with spears in hand, while the white soldiers engaged in battle, slapping, smashing, and stabbing the enemy.

The warriors on both sides were all tightly clustered, each holding at least two (3.6 meters) of long-handled weapons, entangled and fighting together, shouting murderous voices in their mouths, and sparks and sparks splashed from the clash of spears.

The introduction of iron cannons has not been long enough, and the cost of good bows is extraordinary and difficult to popularize, so this kind of confrontation between white soldiers is a very common war scene in this generation, and the fight is the morale and physical strength of both sides.

But when both sides can still hold on, it is difficult to cause fatal injuries because the thunder is heavy and the rain is small.

Unexpectedly, it didn't take long for the men and horses of the Oda family to emerge from both sides of the valley and shoot at the Takeda army with iron cannons from the side.

Suddenly the smoke of gunfire filled the air, a crackling noise continued to echo, and several people fell to the ground in response to the dense array of gunfire.

Although there were not many casualties, the psychological pressure given was extraordinary, and the morale of the hostile was seriously affected by many sides, and the frontal was no longer in a balance of power immediately.

After two rounds of firing, a total of twenty or thirty people had fallen in Takeda's army. One of the group-headed men yelled "can't die in vain" and turned and walked away, and within a minute almost everyone threw away their obstructive spears and fled back.

Ikeda Hengxing hurriedly chased after a few hundred more steps, only to see that the deserters of the Takeda family did not hesitate to cross the baggage team and abandon it.

Seeing that the situation was critical, the logistics personnel threw away the cloth bags and packages on their shoulders and backs, threw down the carts in their hands, loosened the reins of the mules and horses, and fled for their lives.

A large amount of white rice, beans, wheat flour, a small amount of miso, pickled radish, vinegar kelp, and other foods were scattered all over the floor at once, and at least a thousand stones of grain and grass seemed to be at least a thousand stones of grain and grass at a glance.

There were also a few miscellaneous servants who desperately held on to the boxes and did not let go, and those who fell behind were caught up by the pursuers, and they were slashed one by one, and found that these people were transporting copper coins - most of them were not Yongle money but mainly evil money minted privately, but several boxes added up to three or five hundred yuan.

Although this rice and copper coin is not as good as gold and silver, it is enough to make ordinary soldiers move their minds slightly, and they are absent-minded and look at it with their eyes.

Ikeda Hengxing issued an order very resolutely: "These materials, stay behind and let Sasa Hidenari, who will follow up, take care of them!" Afterwards, it will be reasonably distributed, and you will be rewarded for meritorious deeds, and you will kill the enemy with me first! ”

His voice was loud and unquestionable, with a hidden aura of slaughter, even if the soldiers were reluctant, they could only give up the copper smell and rice incense, and had no choice but to continue the pursuit with knives, guns and sticks.

Fortunately, the deserters of the Takeda family had already disrupted the formation in front of them and brought panic everywhere.

As soon as the people of the Oda family appeared, the people of the Takeda family hurriedly accelerated their pace and ran.

The more you run, the more chaotic the front becomes, and the more impossible it is to stop a strong resistance.

Ikeda Hengxing chased for a long time, but the knife was not stained with blood, and he just watched the enemy panic and trample on each other, and couldn't help laughing and enjoying himself.

It wasn't until he turned a corner and found that the valley was almost at the end, with nearly 100 flags set up in front of him, and dozens of Takeda samurai standing in front of him with swords, shouting in unison the slogan "No matter how much you dare to defeat and retreat without fighting, you have already collaborated with the enemy, and there is no mercy for killing", that the rout and escape were barely stopped.

But Ikeda was not worried, but rather excited.

Because this situation shows that the front is the son of Naito Masatoyo, where Naito Masatsuki's flag is!

Even if he forcibly collected the stragglers with the Warlord's team, he would not be able to make this group of timid Suruga people have much fighting spirit, and reluctantly engaging in the battle would only quickly usher in a second collapse.

At most, a few hundred people from Naito's main team still have the strength to fight, but there are thousands of people on his side! As long as the follow-up troops are ......

Thinking of this, Ikeda suddenly felt a little wrong.

When he turned his head, he saw that there seemed to be only 1,800 people around him, and there was no sound behind him. I didn't feel the difference when I killed it just now, but now it looks really wrong.

Am I running too fast? Or is that kid Sasa too slow?

Or is it ......

Ikeda suddenly had a little worry in his heart.

Even after thinking about it, I feel that there may be subtleties in the information of the previous days.

However, it has come to this point, and no matter what, it can only advance and not retreat.

Screen away all distractions, first take the head of Naito Masatsuki in front of you!

He made up his mind, no longer hesitated, drew the hilt of the knife fiercely, swung it heavily, and shouted:

"Kill—"

……

Thirty towns (3 kilometers) to the west, Sasa Hidenari saw that his two or three thousand men were forced to retreat by hundreds of enemy soldiers who appeared out of nowhere, and he was as anxious as ants on a hot pot, but he didn't know what to do.

The young man was completely inexperienced, his head seemed to be suddenly empty, and he couldn't give any instructions, only being surrounded by left and right in a daze.

Ikeda Hengxing ordered more than 1,000 people to chase into the valley first, and Sasa Hidenari was about to follow, but suddenly saw a small Takeda army appear around him.

I thought it was a straggler, but it was not enough to mention, at most it was enough to send a small team of men and horses to drive it away.

Unexpectedly, this enemy army, which only had five or six hundred men, attacked without hesitation, like a wolf entering a flock of sheep, and killed one by surprise, which made the soldiers of the Oda family frightened for a while.

Especially the fierce man who shouted "Shinshu Sanada Masaaki is here, who dares to come to fight to the death", he killed several generals in a row, like a ghost and god, and he was brave.

Sasa Hidesei was stunned for a while, and then came back to his senses, and ordered the veterans on the left and right to press the formation, and ordered the ashigaru to raise his gun to cover, and the iron artillery team fired a salvo to suppress the enemy soldiers in front.

But just as the situation improved slightly, he heard an angry roar on the left: "Baoke is upright!" ”

It was still an inconspicuous small team, although the number was small, but the quality was not much different from the Sanada team, and the one-on-one Owari soldiers were by no means opponents.

This time, Sasa Hidesei didn't have so many reserves available around him, so he had to take the guards and personally ride his horse to meet him on the left to motivate the soldiers to resist the assault.

After another moment, suddenly an old guard anxiously tugged at his sleeve and said that something was different in the distance.

Sasa Xiucheng followed the sound and saw that the smoke and dust were rising in the north, and the figures were floating, and it seemed that a cavalry of considerable scale would be killed immediately.

I guess that cavalry can't be a friendly army.

Seeing that Zuo Zuo Xiucheng's heart was not good, he hurriedly reminded the nearby soldiers to concentrate.

At this moment, the old guard with his sleeve pulled close and whispered: "The matter has come to this, I'm afraid I have been deceived." I ask Sasaden to immediately lead people to retreat, join up with the Pingshou army who came later, and then make a plan to let the people of the Ikeda family come to the back of the palace. ”

Hearing that Sasa Xiucheng was very different, he looked at it and saw that this guard was indeed a close confidant of Ikeda Hengxing, but he was not yet well-known. Hidesei was ashamed and angry, and said, "How can you be worthy of Ikeda-sama, who is fighting the front line?" ”

The old guard hurriedly said, "I can't hide it, this is exactly what Ikeda-sama said in advance. Sasaden's identity can save the lives of the Lang party as much as possible, and at the same time, you will not fall into the reputation of the Oda family! ”

"What's so special about me?" Sasa Xiucheng subconsciously asked, but immediately reacted: "What do you mean ......?"

"If Ikeda-sama dies and you go back alive, the Hisho Punishment Department will be compassionate." The old guard explained quickly, "On the other hand, if you don't get back safely, the Oda family is in danger of anger!" ”

"This ......" Sasa Hidesei was dumbfounded.

Since he was a child, he was influenced by his father's rhetoric of "valuing righteousness and neglecting life", and he refused to run away first in order to save his life, but if he was, not only for his own life, but also for the situation of the Oda family......

After hesitating, the old guard was unequivocal, and helped Sasa turn the horse's head and slapped the horse's buttocks hard, causing the mount to run in the opposite direction. At the same time, he drew his sword and shouted: "The people of the Ikeda family will be cut off with me!" The rest followed Zosa-sama and turned in temporarily! ”

Sazuo Xiucheng was stunned again, and then reacted that he had already walked a hundred steps away, and many soldiers had already gathered around him and retreated together.

"Such righteous servants and loyal ministers should at least ask for their names!"

He looked back again, but he couldn't see the old guard at all.