On April 12, after Yu Qiuping arranged for the mother and son of Jing Yi Naohu to be evacuated, he led the army into Sanhe.

When the red leaf flag of Tokiwa and the maple bird and horse print of Yuqiuping fluttered outside Zhili Castle again, it attracted many onlookers from the people. However, this time, what was erected next to the maple bird and horse seal was no longer a two-lead flag, but a Oda papaya. Such a change really made these people sigh.

Zhili Castle was located in the safe rear, and Yuakihei left Ogawa Yuto to lead a platoon of soldiers and 100 auxiliaries, a total of 150 people to stay. After that, Yuqiuping's troops were divided into two routes, one with Fukushima Yasushi as the general in chief, Charlie as the deputy general, leading two ashigaru platoons and one bow platoon, plus auxiliaries, a total of 450 people stationed in Kariya Castle in the southwest. Yu Qiuping led the remaining 600 people into Anxiang City in the southeast. When the small number of Matsudaira defenders from Ansho Castle and Kariya Castle saw Yu Qiuping leading their troops coming, they all wanted to see a savior, and hurriedly welcomed the two into the city.

It turned out that the people of the Honganji Ichijo Sect had begun to hang around the south of Kariya Castle and Ansho Castle a few days ago, and the almost empty castles of Kariya Castle and Anxiang Castle were worried, so they had to sing about the empty castle plan to confuse the people of the Ichijo Clan.

After settling down, Akihei immediately took Honda Tadakatsu, Ryuko, who had just learned to ride horses, and other escorts, and rode to Okazaki Castle to visit Matsudaira Ieyasu. However, to Yuakihei's surprise, in addition to the Matsudaira family troops on the Yasakugawa and Otogawa defense lines, there were still a considerable number of reserves left in Okazaki Castle - since there were so many reserves, why not send the three castles to the west to assist in the defense?

Matsudaira Ieyasu personally met with Akihei on the third floor of the castle tower, and asked the chef to make fried tempura, a dish that both Akihei and Matsudaira loved very much.

"Thank you for your hospitality!" Yu Qiuping ate the crispy fried tempura, "Your chef is really good at making this dish!" I really never get tired of eating it, no wonder Takechiyo loves this dish so much. ”

"Haha, if you like Momiji, please feel free to eat it," Matsudaira Ieyasu said with a heartfelt smile.

"Oh?" Yu Qiuping was stunned for a moment, and then he also smiled dumbly, "Takechiyo really has the demeanor of a general, and he has always been about to hit our door, and I was also worried about the situation in Mikawa so I hurriedly marched here." It's hard to say if we can beat them together, but Takechiyo can still let me eat with confidence? ”

"Hmm..."Matsudaira Ieyasu pondered for a moment, and said again: "Although you can eat red leaves with confidence, we don't have to pay attention to those traitors!" The reason why I was in such a hurry to ask for reinforcements was because I was worried that I wouldn't be able to eat this tempura in the second half of the year! ”

"What's wrong?" Yu Qiuping heard that Matsudaira Ieyasu had something to say. After three years of separation, this young man who was still childish back then is now quite a bit of a city.

"Honestly, Momiji," Matsudaira Ieyasu said as he chewed on the tempura, "With the strength of the Matsudaira family alone, those traitors who want to exterminate Mikawa can still do it, but it may be delayed for too long, and this year's autumn harvest will probably be delayed." If the autumn harvest is not good, then there is still spare money to eat fried tempura? ”

Yu Qiuping was stunned for a moment, and his brain spun quickly. He thought about it for a long time, and finally understood the meaning of Matsudaira Ieyasu's words.

Historically, Mikawa has always been suppressed by the Matsudaira family, but because the strength of the two is not much different, it took the Matsudaira family more than half a year to win the battle. This seriously affected the autumn harvest of the Matsudaira family, which greatly damaged the vitality of the Matsudaira family. In other words, if the original historical development is followed, with the ability of the Matsudaira family alone, the three castles of Kariya Castle, Ansho Castle, and Chiritsu Castle in the west will definitely not be lost.

In other words, Matsudaira Ieyasu had a way to hold those three castles. The Matsudaira family was by no means unable to draw any troops, as stated in the letter asking for help, and the three castles were already empty, and they had to wait for reinforcements from the Oda family to defend them.

Thinking of this, Yu Qiuping suddenly realized. Matsudaira Ieyasu estimated that he deliberately took out the troops of Mitsushi Castle and made it look like he could no longer support it, and came to Oda Nobunaga to ask for reinforcements - the purpose was to quickly quell the rebellion and reduce the losses of the Matsudaira family. If Oda Nobunaga hadn't agreed to send reinforcements, Matsudaira Ieyasu would have quickly sent the reserves in Okazaki Castle to the three castles to defend them.

"Okay, you're Chiyo Take," Yu Qiuping laughed all at once. Unexpectedly, Matsudaira Ieyasu actually used such a method to "deceive" reinforcements from Oda Nobunaga. "Don't worry, I won't tell outsiders that your tempura here is so delicious!"

After receiving Yu Qiuping's assurance, Matsudaira Ieyasu breathed a long sigh of relief. Just now in the city, he noticed that Yu Qiuping seemed to be puzzled why the Matsudaira family had so many reserves. Entangled in three, he still decided to tell Yu Qiuping the truth, and also believed that his good friend would not betray him.

"In this case, thank you Momiji." Matsudaira Ieyasu thanked him.

"It's okay, it's human nature!" Yu Qiuping laughed and said, "How can you tell your friend's little secret?" ”

Watching Yu Qiuping gobble up tempura again, Matsudaira Ieyasu was slightly moved.

Human nature, human nature...

Momiji, don't you know? After becoming a samurai and the head of a family, you shouldn't think about the emotions of being an ordinary person.

·

After learning that the strength of the Matsudaira family itself had surpassed that of the rebels, Yuqiu Pington felt more confident. The Matsudaira family was now able to mobilize 1,500 soldiers for the offensive, and Yuakihei also had 400 soldiers on his hands, adding up to nearly 2,000 soldiers, with a total strength of more than 6,000. Although the total number of people who have always been in the middle is close to 10,000, there are a large number of old and weak women and children, and the real prime of men is only 5,000. And among these mixed rabble, only the 500 monks and the regular army who rebelled from the Matsudaira family had the combat power of the soldiers. Others may have to follow suit – like the one that defeated Tadaji Sakai. Once caught in a headwind, it is very likely to disperse in a hurry.

In the original history, Matsudaira Ieyasu was also caught off guard in the early days, and let a group of people kill them to the edge of Okazaki Castle. And after that, he also shrank his forces to defend like now, consuming the morale that he had always had. However, due to the addition of the new force led by Yu Qiuping, the Matsudaira family's counterattack came several months earlier than in history.

On April 15, Yu Qiuhei and Matsudaira Ieyasu each led their troops south. The attack on Honshoji Temple, which is located on the west bank of the Yasakugawa River, was also the base camp of the Honganji Temple that Mikawa had always been in this direction. Matsudaira Ieyasu, on the other hand, crossed the Otogawa River south of Okazaki Castle to attack Kamiyaji Temple and Katsukuji Temple. According to Matsudaira Ieyasu's meaning, the small number of people Yu Qiuping only needs to drag the main force of the Ichijo sect, and wait for Matsudaira Ieyasu to defeat the remaining two temples, and then cross the river to attack.

After Yu Qiuping joined Fukushima Yasunari and Ogawa Yuto's headquarters, he led the whole army to set out from Anxiang Castle, and soon encountered the people who had always been in front of the Honshoji Temple who had rushed to hear the news. The momentum of the crowd has always been so great that Yu Qiuping is amazed - there are nearly 5,000 people here. However, when Yu Qiuping rode to a small hill and began to look, he realized that the crowd was more like a rabble than the wealthy coalition army in Ximeinon. They had no formation to speak of, and everyone stood on the official road in a disorderly manner. Most of them wore only shabby cloth and straw sandals, and carried a variety of weapons in their hands. Scythes, hoes, guillotines, hatchetees and even sticks and brooms. At first glance, it is an honest common man on weekdays.

When they received a call from Honganji, which they regarded as gods, they gathered together desperately, relying on the courage of the people. The people believed that what the monks of Honganji Temple said was the will of the gods and Buddhas. As long as you honestly pay the donations to the Buddha on weekdays and stand up to defend the safety of the Buddha in times of crisis, you can live forever and be reincarnated in heaven forever and enjoy the unimaginable glory and wealth of this world.

Alas... It's all innocent and pitiful. Do I really want to do it with them?

·

A group of people formed groups of three or five, and groups formed larger groups, and finally formed a whole army. Everyone made noise with each other, brandished weapons, and sprinkled foul language on Yu Qiuping's side.

In the middle of this rabble, Yu Qiuping saw two formed troops. A group of people who are all bald, and it is estimated that they are the monks and soldiers of this temple, and the number of them is about 300 people. There was also a handful of troops under various banners, probably the rebels of the Matsudaira family, numbering less than 100.

"As long as you kill those two troops, they'll be gone, right?" Yu Qiuping asked Keiji Maeda on the side.

"I'm afraid Your Highness underestimated the fighting spirit of those peasants." Keiji Maeda shook his head, "These ordinary people are usually honest, but once they revolt for their so-called Buddha, they all seem to be dying." I advise Your Highness not to clash with them head-on. Although His Royal Highness Chang Panbei is elite, he is still weak in front of these thousands of people. ”

"Is that so?" Yu Qiuping sighed. It is no wonder that the historical Oda Nobunaga and Ichijo Sect launched a ten-year fierce war. Whether it is Nagashima Ichijima, which has made Oda Nobunaga anxious, or Ishiyama Honganji, which has not been attacked for a long time, it must not be in vain. If it was true that only these two forces could be defeated to win, the historical Matsudaira Ieyasu would not have spent half a year to suppress them.

·

Yu Qiuping doesn't want to attack, it doesn't mean that he won't attack as soon as he swoops the crowd. After a burst of gongs and drums, the huge procession immediately became noisy. The entire formation wriggled a few times like a huge caterpillar, and then rushed towards Yu Qiuping's side.

Yu Qiuping saw that there were many people on the opposite side, and the distance between the formation was more than five times that of Yu Qiuping's front, and the thin front listed by the ashigaru would definitely be detoured from the side.

In the ancient battle formation, the flank of a force was his most vulnerable. Because the soldiers are always facing the enemy directly in front of them, the flanks and rear are exposed to the blanks. If there are enemies in front of you, on the right and left, the soldiers will be defeated with two fists and four hands, and they will be cut down by random knives. If you want to cover the flanks, you either need to stretch the battle line to the same width as the opposite side, or make use of the terrain, or use the formation change. For example, it is possible to try forming a circle to cover the flanks - but forming a circle means that the troops have basically given up any battlefield mobility. Or it is the use of a skillful three-sided rotation method like Yu Qiuhei, so that the ashigaru, which was originally facing the front, can be quickly adjusted to face the side. However, if the number of opponents is too large, this three-sided approach at the micro level is not enough.

"It's really tricky," Yu Qiuping sighed with a frown, "If the flanks and even the rear of the troops are infiltrated by these people, it will be a big trouble." No matter how powerful Chang Panbei is, there is no way to attack the enemy with his ass and the back of his head. Moreover, if I make a detour to the back of the other side, my unarmed auxiliaries will be unprotected. ”

It is no wonder that in later history, Oda Nobunaga's elite corps was repeatedly deflated by the attacks of the Ichimune army, and high-ranking generals were often killed. It is estimated that it was an avalanche caused by a large number of enemy troops returning to the main position from the flanks and rear, sweeping the entire battle line.