At seven o'clock on July 26, on a high ground directly north of the barrel saga, the vanguard of the Oda family was hidden.

The wind blew, and the black cloak hunted in the wind. Oda Nobunaga was dressed in black clothes and black armor, and under his two capable and domineering sword eyebrows, his eagle-like eyes were staring at the Matsudaira army not far to the south.

"Lord, please take the horses and the people to retreat." Shibata Katsuie, who was on the side, persuaded, "It's okay to carry out the assault work when you come down." ”

"Haha, in fact, Quan Liu is worried, if the war does not go well, the remaining position is too far forward to evacuate." Oda Nobunaga snorted coldly, "Is our Oda family's No. 1 fierce general also cowardly like this?" ”

"I don't dare, it's just..."Shibata Katsuya replied angrily, "Your lord, you are..."

"Needless to say, I won't listen." Oda Nobunaga shook his head, "This is a surprise attack that blocks the fate of the Oda family, no matter what, Yu will personally stand on the front line." ”

"Ready to get started." He snapped.

"Lord, don't you wait for the reserve team to be assembled before you start it?" Ikeda Hengxing, who was beside him, advised.

"No need." Oda Nobunaga slowly drew his sword in his hand, high up to the sky, and the early morning sunlight reflected a sharp light on the blade, "In this battle, you don't need to assemble, you only need courage." Then, the arm tensed violently, and the katana slashed forward quickly.

"Charge!"

At eight o'clock, the barrel is narrow, and the Matsudaira family camps.

The sudden sound of a horn from the north caused chaos in the barracks, where breakfast was being eaten. Soon, a herald rushed back from the lookout.

"Your Highness," the herald reported to Matsudaira Motoyasu, who had already arrived in person, "it's the troops of the Oda family's Shibata Katsuie. ”

"How did the Oda family end up here! I'm going to see for myself," Matsudaira Motoyasu pushed away the herald and quickly climbed to the lookout. Sakai Tadaji behind him, Ishikawa Shumasa and other family elders also followed.

When I climbed the lookout, I saw a 300-strong ashigaru team rushing out of the mountains and forests to the north, and there were more than a dozen samurai on horseback leading the charge. In Japan, most daimyo families did not have large-scale formed cavalry units. Generally, only samurai can afford to equip military horses, and they will usually lead the ashigaru charge in their own homes. Only the daimyo himself will have a large number of knights who do not have to lead the infantry.

"Your Highness doesn't need to worry, they came to the barrel narrow room from Gudu through the path." Sakai Tadaji saw that Matsudaira Motoyasu was trembling nervously, so he comforted him, "I have walked with my ancestor on this path, and it is narrow and not conducive to traffic. Supplying about 500 soldiers to go out is already the sky. It was probably just a harassment. ”

"We also have 500 soldiers," Matsudaira Motoyasu swallowed and silently calculated, "Narumi City's grain and grass for the next month are here, and we can't give it up." If such a crime is committed, the Governor will definitely take the opportunity..."Matsudaira Motoyasu sighed, "Command all the departments to stick to the spot. ”

"Yes!" After receiving the order, the elders behind him returned to their respective units and commanded the soldiers to complete the pre-battle preparations by taking bamboo armor from the hands of the auxiliaries. And began to rely on the defense of the camp.

"The camp that was hastily built last night may not be strong enough," Matsudaira Motoyasu regretted why he had allowed his auxiliary troops to work sloppily last night, "and immediately sent heralds to the friendly forces in the five surrounding cities to apply for reinforcements. ”

The Matsudaira Army's miscalculation of the situation led them to make a wrong judgment in the initial period. They believed that the Oda family had only about 500 soldiers, so they did not choose to retreat, but defended on the spot.

However, when Oda Nobunaga's own banner and the Matsudaira army appeared in the mountains and forests to the north, the Matsudaira army was taken aback.

"Brother Jifa himself!" At this time, Matsudaira Motoyasu couldn't sit still, "How is it possible!" Did the governor himself come to raid? Is there anything else to come..."

"Probably not," Tadaji Sakai is no longer as confident as he was just now, "this road... I really can't pass through so many people. With so many soldiers, how can the baggage team be supplied? Did they all bring their own rations and run in armor? ”

There was only time to set up simple fortifications such as fences and antlers around the camp, and the trenches were definitely too late to be dug. Shibata Katsuie, who had always been known for his bravery in battle, was unceremoniously ordered the samurai to dismount and fight on foot, and launched a fierce attack on the junction of the Matsudaira family's defense line. The well-armed Samurai of Hagimoto charged into battle under his own leadership, not avoiding the arrows. The katana in his hand quickly slashed through the wooden antlers, but several samurai were also pierced by the ashigaru men armed with iron-tipped bamboo spears. The Matsudaira family, who had been hastily deployed, failed to deal with the defense of the junction between the two armies, and was taken advantage of by Shibata Katsuie to break through. After the precious samurai paid a huge number of casualties, they finally opened an opening outside the north gate of the Matsudaira house, and the ashigaru behind them immediately poured in in large numbers. Matsudaira Motoyasu had to send his own flag team to plug the leak, and with the hard work of Torii Mototada and others, the situation was finally stabilized.

Nobunaga's banner and the Horse Warriors were soon brought into battle, and the Matsudaira family was outnumbered, and the advantage of the defenders was not reflected due to the simplicity of the camp and the haste to meet the battle, and they were forced to send all their reserves to keep the battle line intact.

Unfortunately, at the exit of the forest, the banners of the Takigawa family, the Mori family, the Sasa family, and the Sakuma family appeared one after another, and the total number of troops that the Oda family put into the battlefield was as high as 2,000 people. Oda Nobunaga decisively ordered the new troops to join the battlefield not to change into battle formations, but to maintain columns, advance to the flanks of Matsudaira's defense line, and then spread out horizontally, outflanking the weak defense line. At two o'clock, the Matsudaira family's already stretched defense line was declared lost, and Matsudaira Motoyasu, who had no time to shrink the troops, helplessly watched as the troops were broken down and lost their formation, and the whole line collapsed. Nobunaga's mother's cavalry tried to take Matsudaira Motoyasu himself. Under the desperate protection of the cavalry of the flag team, Matsudaira Motoyasu escaped. The Oda cavalry did not choose to pursue the infantry of the Matsudaira family in the first place, and also gave those infantry time to throw away their armor and weapons and flee into the mountains and forests. However, the troops that followed Matsudaira Motoyasu himself to evacuate were only a few dozen. If the Matsudaira Army wants to regain its combat effectiveness again, it is estimated that it will have to wait until these scattered units return to the formation one after another, which may take nearly a month. And all the baggage that the Matsudaira family had worked so hard to bring fell into the hands of the Oda family.

After the Oda family cleaned up the battlefield, they immediately set about consolidating the defense of the camp. Sure enough, at eight o'clock in the morning, the reinforcements of the castle arrived late, and Asahina Shinji only received the first report from Matsudaira Motoyasu, saying that the Oda family might have nearly 500 men attacking the convoy of Tsukasama. So he hurried with 300 soldiers and 600 auxiliaries, and was surprised to see that the camp had changed hands, and the Oda family was reinforcing the camp.

"Mikawa, a samurai who usually boasts of how stoic he is, can't even hold on for an hour?" Asahina Shinoki immediately commanded the troops to launch an attack, wanting to catch the Oda family by surprise. However, the Oda family's huge forces quickly exceeded his imagination.

"That's at least 1,500 soldiers!" Asahina Shinji looked at the huge queue of the Oda family out of the village to meet the attack, and gasped, "With this number of soldiers, there must be nearly 3,000 auxiliaries. Isn't there more than 4,000 people here? Flew over from Owari! ”

Seeing that the situation was not good, he quickly retreated, but it was too late, and the difference in numbers made the troops stick after a little contact, unable to adjust the formation and retreat, and were finally completely defeated. Asahina Shinji himself had to abscond with the Banner Abandonment Army, but the Oda family did not pursue and did not cause greater casualties. After receiving the news of the disastrous defeat of Asahina, Uden Nagasho immediately reduced all his troops and scouts, and made every effort to defend the castle while transmitting urgent military information to the rear. He was also the first messenger to rush back to Okazaki Castle to call the police.

When Okabe Motonobu, who had left Narumi Castle, broke away from the entanglement of Niwa Nagahide, who was left behind, and arrived at Tsubakusama, he happened to see the entire army of the Oda family attacking and defeating the troops of Nakake Castle, and after weighing the situation on the battlefield, he immediately retreated towards Narumi Castle. The Oda family couldn't pursue, and Okabe Motonobu was able to retreat. But this emergency mobilization also depleted Narumi Castle's surplus food and grass. Motonobu Okabe, who had only three days to spare, was unable to make any maneuvers. The Oda family didn't know this.

However, Motonobu Okabe, who had retreated back to the castle, found that his prediction at that time did not come true. The Oda family, who had a day's worth of grain and grass, attacked their own food and grass team. The troops of the Oda family, who had received grain and grass, had no worries.

"There must be ghosts inside! Still in the Advanced! Okabe Motonobu cursed fiercely, "Otherwise, how did the specific travel time of our grain and grass team fall into the hands of the enemy in advance." ”

Okabe Motonobu retreated in time, which is already considered good. Next, the reinforcements of Otaka Castle collided headlong with the main force of the Oda family, and collapsed at the first touch, and almost all the troops were wiped out under the pursuit of the mothers, and the castle lord himself was killed on the battlefield. The remnants of the Great Taka Castle hurriedly asked for help from Narumi Castle, and Okabe Motonobu sent a few family elders to leave with a third of the soldiers, in fact, it was also to share the pressure of grain and grass.

Matsudaira Motoyasu retreated all the way south, just in time to encounter the defenders of Ansho Castle led by Nobuyan Asahina and the defenders of Kariya Castle led by Nobuyoto Mizuno Nobumoto, who came to support. After being informed that the enemy was unprecedentedly strong, the three immediately retreated to Kariya Castle and Anxiang Castle to consolidate their defenses. These 500 soldiers are the only mobile forces that Mikawa can mobilize now.

Back in the evening of July 28, Okazaki Castle.

Along the way, Sena gathered nearly 100 samurai and ashigaru, plus the troops left behind by Okazaki Castle, and the number of troops that could be mobilized reached 200 soldiers and 600 auxiliaries. Sekiguchi Shihiro, on the other hand, went to Minami Sanhe to continue to urgently recruit troops. In the evening, after listening to the military intelligence report, Sena Shitoshi, who had rushed to Okazaki Castle, convened a pre-war assessment meeting for the leaders of more than 200 people, which Yu Qiupei also attended.

"That's the situation," Sena Toshi concluded his introduction and summed it up, "The Imagawa Army, which had been dominant, was unable to communicate with each other due to the loss of the barrel and narrow room, and was unable to gather troops, and was broken by the Oda family. ”