"Lord Suwon, please ask Your Highness to immediately lead the army into the basin, the basin is covered with a dense network of water, with villages and forests to rely on, and the terrain is complex, which can effectively limit the cavalry of the Takeda Army! If the Takeda Army is allowed to pass through the basin smoothly and reach the Three Days Plain, then we really can't compete with the Takeda cavalry! Only in the basin can you win the war! The herald reminded in a low voice again.

"I know, please Zijing must resist, reinforcements will arrive soon." Yu Qiuping nodded hurriedly. He now had only Hosoyanagi Bei, who had just come out of the valley, and the other two companies of Ming Di Bei and Tokiwa Bei had been sent to the west and east by him before, while the cavalry company was still on the mountain road.

"Let Thompson and An Cheng turn around immediately, all return for three days, and then head south into the basin." Yu Qiuping quickly gave an order, "Hosoyanagi is ready to follow me, and we will immediately go south to support." ”

"Yu Nan, the three-day stay will be handed over to you." Yu Qiuping whispered to Fukuzawa Yunan, "When Naruto, Tokiwabei, and the cavalry company arrive, immediately send them to the Mikamachi Basin." Then, when the auxiliaries had left the mountain, they were to set up camp on three days and wait for orders on the spot. ”

"Yes." Fukuzawa Yunan immediately received the order and urgently began to formulate a new plan with the staff headquarters.

"Ryuko, you take a few people, and immediately go to inform Okazaki Castle, Hanbei, and then the lord in, saying that Yuanjiang has been defeated, His Royal Highness Tokugawa has been defeated, and the Yuqiu army is also in danger." Yu Qiuping once again instructed the dragon beside him, "Go quickly." ”

"Why?" Unexpectedly, Long Zi, who had never doubted Yu Qiuping's instructions, directly questioned this time, "Why did His Highness drive me away?" ”

Yu Qiuping's mind was seen through, and his face couldn't help but tighten. He knew that the battle was auspicious, and he didn't know if he would survive. And he has always felt very guilty about Longzi in his heart, and he doesn't want her to stay here to accompany him to die, so he thinks about sending her to herald the order, so that she can escape the catastrophe and live well.

Yu Qiuping's hesitation made Long Zi see the clue, and tears suddenly welled up in her eyes, "Does Your Highness feel that you are going to die?" So you don't want Ryuko to accompany you? As soon as he thought of what Yu Qiuping's order meant, Long Zi's crying suddenly leaked out, "Long Zi will not leave, and if he wants to die, he will die with His Highness!" Your Highness, don't leave me! ”

"Silly girl, why are you so stupid." Yu Qiuping only felt that his heart was soft, and then there was a heart-rending pain - such a good girl, but he failed her. Yu Qiuping couldn't help but reach out and did what he hadn't done in a long time - rubbing Ryuko's hair.

Long Zi was stunned for a moment, tears burst out of his eyes at once, and he lowered his head without saying a word, burying his face deep in the shadows.

"What about the Dead?" Yu Qiuping held back the sadness in his heart and whispered to the herald again, "Did Zijing send the herald back?" ”

"Please atone for your sins, Your Highness," the herald looked tense when he heard this, and whispered with great self-reproach: "Lord Suwon and Lord Morita resolutely let the young master retreat, but the young master refused to leave. ”

·

At four o'clock in the afternoon, a hill on the southern side of the Mikamachi Basin.

Under the command of the Water Atom Sutra, all the ashigaru carefully hid on the north side of the hillside, and no one showed their heads. The water atom himself took off his helmet and poked his head out of a rock to observe the movements of the Takeda Army, so as not to reveal his position with the eye-catching paper red leaves on his head. As the Takeda Army got closer and closer, his heart gradually rose to his throat, and he glanced at Yu Qiuyan very uneasily—Morita Evil Sho was still persuading him, and he still stubbornly refused to leave.

"Young master, the Takeda Army will arrive soon, and it is already in the evening." The Water Atom Sutra quietly leaned over to Yu Qiuyan's side again, and said to him in a deep voice, "I'm begging you, okay, young master, quickly withdraw!" What are the three long and two short in the less, how to be worthy of His Royal Highness? ”

"Lord Suwon, I don't need to say any more, I've already made it clear." Yu Qiu Yan shook his head, and said to the Water Atom Sutra and all the ashigaru people of Chang Panbei's second company without humility or arrogance: "I am not the young master of the Yuqiu family at this moment, my military rank is just an ordinary private in Chang Panbei's second company, and I don't deserve any preferential treatment." ”

"But..."The Water Atom Sutra wanted to persuade again, but Yu Qiuyan waved his hand and said in a deep voice, "If Lord Suwon really thinks that I am the young master, then obey my orders." ”

"As Lord Suwon said just now, we are carrying a heavy burden on our shoulders at this moment. If we can't stop the Takeda Army, the Yuqiu Army will be forced to engage the Takeda Army on the plain for three days, and our entire army will be almost dead. Our battle here is not only for us, but also for our comrades, but also for the lives of the 12,000 people in our Yuqiu family's entire army, and for the life and death of the Yuqiu family! If we can stop the Takeda Army, the whole army will have a chance to survive, but if we can't stop it, the whole army will die. Yu Qiuyan's face was solemn, and he recounted the heavy facts in a low voice.

"At such a critical moment of life and death, do you still want to send a precious ashigaru to the back? Adults are reluctant to send even heralds, so how can they be willing to waste a combat power? Yu Qiuyan paused after a series of rhetorical questions, and he couldn't help but be surprised, why did he, who had always been taciturn, suddenly talk so much. However, as these words were spoken, he only felt that his trembling body gradually calmed down, his panicked tone gradually stabilized, the will in his heart gradually firmed, and his expression became resolute.

He faced the 400 soldiers of the second company and said loudly: "I don't have your combat experience, I don't have the command level of Lord Suwon, and I don't have the martial bravery of Lord Morita. All I have is a life and a knife. Yu Qiuyan slowly drew the knife out of the sheath as he spoke, casually cut the strap that tied the scabbard to his body, and threw the scabbard out casually. You are all here to sacrifice your life and death for the Yuqiu family, how can I, as the young master of the Yuqiu family, escape? ”

"Gamble your life today and fight with you! People are in the position, people are dead, and people are dead! ”

Mr. Tian Shen, Lord Suwon, this time, I am no longer risking my life indiscriminately. I am for the sake of the Yuqiu family, for my responsibility as the young master of the Yuqiu family, and for the glory of being a samurai, I have chosen this path - although I have no regrets in death.

·

At the same time, on the other side of the hill, the army of the Takeda family was advancing rapidly. Coincidentally, it was the young master of the Takeda family who took the lead, 1,000 soldiers and 2,000 auxiliaries led by Takeda Katsuyori. They came all the way day and night, and the whole army was not yet in armor. According to the original plan, they would complete the armor formation after passing through the Mikamachi basin in front of them, and then attack the Yuqiu army on the Mikachi Plain, which was fleeing to Yoshida Castle in a hurry.

"Young master, do you want to send someone to the basin in front to investigate?" The guard who followed Takeda Katsuyori whispered.

"Haven't you been there before, there's no one there." Katsuyori Takeda shook his head as a matter of course.

"But..."The guard seemed to be still insisting on his own point of view, which couldn't help but make Takeda Katsuyori a little unhappy, and refuted in a deep voice: "Now the ninjas of the Yuqiu family may have been scouting around, wouldn't it be a surprise to send someone to explore the way now?" In order to prevent our ninja from being discovered and the plan was revealed, my father even withdrew the ninjas who were lying in ambush around the three days, so how could he send someone to investigate now? ”

"Then if there are people in the basin, won't we, the unarmored troops, be beaten in vain?" The guard was still unrelenting, but he didn't notice that Takeda Katsuyori's face was getting worse and worse.

It's no wonder that this guard is the son of Takeda Shingen's surname, who was only recently promoted to serve Takeda Katsuyori, and he doesn't know much about the character of this new master. You must know that although Takeda Katsuyori is the heir of the Takeda family, he was once passed to the Suwa family as the fourth son. Later, it was because Takeda Shingen's heir, the eldest son Takeda Yoshinobu, was executed because of political struggles, and Takeda Shingen's second son was blind, and the third son died early, so it was Takeda Katsuyori's turn to come back to inherit. And because the children who passed out could not legitimately inherit the position of family governor, Takeda Shingen had no choice but to support Takeda Katsuyori's sister-in-law Takeda Nobukatsu as the next family governor, and let Takeda Katsuyori serve as a transitional person before Takeda Nobukatsu Motofu.

Such an untenable identity makes Takeda Katsuyori a very sensitive person. He cares deeply about his authority and worries that those around him will disobey him because of his status. Such a situation does exist, even if he has repeatedly made military exploits in Suruga and Sagami and has become a brave general in the army, some important ministers in the family still do not deal with him. As a result, Takeda is very annoyed whenever someone questions Takeda's decision, especially on the battlefield.

"Lao Tzu has been fighting for so long, do you need to teach?" Takeda Katsuyori angrily flicked his horsewhip and struck the guard's ear and startled him. "There can't be anyone in this basin! Even if there were, unless they were lying on the back of that hill! Takeda Katsuyori cursed and pointed with his horsewhip not far in front of him—the hillside south of the Mikamachi Basin that the forward troops were about to cross, "Otherwise, we just need to retreat and put on our armor!" What is there to be afraid of! ”

Unfortunately, as soon as Takeda Katsuyori finished speaking, about one hundred and fifty iron gunners suddenly stood up on the originally empty hillside. The front row crouched, and the back row poked the iron cannon out of the front row. Before the Takeda Army, which was going uphill, could react, one hundred and fifty iron gunners pressed the trigger in unison under the command of the Water Atom Sutra. The roar of the salvo and the ensuing smoke of gunpowder suddenly stalled the actions of the Takeda Army in the front row. Immediately afterwards, at such a close distance, they encountered a salvo of iron artillery, and the Takeda Army, which was at the forefront, fell down more than 20 people in an instant.

"What's that?" Takeda Katsuyori reacted immediately after a moment of consternation - the Yuqiu army had an ambush here. Originally, he wanted to immediately order to retreat and regroup, but the slightly wry smile of the guard next to him seemed to him to be naked mockery. Annoyed, he threw his whip to the ground, and shouted as he unsheathed his sword, "No need to put on armor!" Take the weapons and kill all those iron gunners! ”