Chapter 313: The Yubara Encounter

At around 11 o'clock in the afternoon, the 67,000 troops of the Tokugawa family arrived on the south side of Hinohara, and because they learned in advance that Hideho had led 57,000 men from the Fukusenji main camp to support the Yuki and Mori armies of Kohiyama, in order to prevent Hideho from being attacked by Hidebo in the battle, Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered the striker Honda Tadamasa to suspend the attack on Yuki Hideyasu, and instead retreated to his own team and set up a fish scale formation to deal with the upcoming decisive battle.

Mori Hidemoto saw the Tokugawa front retreating from the hill and guessed that Hideho's army was coming, so he informed Yamashita Yuuki Hideyasu of this news and told him to hold the line and wait for Hideho's support; At the same time, he also sent his retainers to the Yoshikawa Hiroya position on the mountain, demanding that he surrender his military power and fight against Tokugawa Ieyasu together with Hidemoto and Hideyasu.

Yoshikawa Hiroshi was a pro-Tokugawa faction of the Mori family, and he was dissatisfied with Mori Hidemoto's sudden fall to Hideho's side despite Terumo's orders, and at this time he received an order from him to hand over his military power, and immediately became angry, and after coaxing the envoy down the mountain, he immediately held a military council and decided to take the lead in attacking the Mori Hidemoto army on the mountainside, in order to deal with the Tokugawa army under the mountain.

"According to the detailed report, this time the Right Mansion rushed to the battle, only gathered 57,000 people and rushed to the decisive battle with the Right Mansion, but the Right Mansion has 67,000 troops, a whole 10,000 more, and they are all directly subordinate to the Tokugawa family, how can the rabble of the Right Mansion be compared? My Guang family decided to stand on the side of the Inner House, and it was also for the sake of the Maori family's family business, Xiuyuan Xiao'er insisted on joining the command of the Right Mansion despite the instructions of An Yi Dian, how could such a rebellious minister let us surrender? With that, Yoshikawa Hiroke ordered the army to reorganize its armament, and as soon as the battle under the mountain began, he immediately rushed down the mountain to start a war with Mori Hidemoto.

Just as Hideho led an army of 57,000, including Goshibei, to the Hibara front, two other armies were also rushing south to reinforce them.

Under the coercion of Fukushima Takayoshi, who had withdrawn to Omoomachi, the Mabe clan was forced to lead 3,000 Satake troops to merge with 6,000 Fukushima troops, with Fukushima Takayoshi as the general general, and immediately rushed south to Hinobara to support Hidebo; And Sakakihara Yasumasa listened to the advice of Hideaki Hayakawa from childhood. Led 7,000 Tokugawa troops to Furukawa Shrine to prepare reinforcements for Tokugawa Ieyasu from the rear. As a result, Yuuki and Mori are included. The total number of troops in the Toyotomi army will reach 78,000, and the strength of the Tokugawa side will be 77,000. The two sides are evenly matched, and it is difficult to predict who will win or lose at the moment.

According to Tokugawa Ieyasu's deployment, at the forefront of the fish scale formation was the 5,000 banners led by Honda Tadamasa, and its right flank from near to far were Sakai Ieji, the son of Sakai Tadaji, with 8,000 people, Okuhei Iemasa, 5,000 people, and Okubo Tadatsune, the son of Okubo Tadashi, with 4,000 people; On the left flank are the 4,000 Akabi and 4,000 banners of Ii Naomasa, and the 5,000 people who are loyal to the government. Naito Masanari's 4,000 men, the above team formed the first offensive line of defense, and behind it was a support group consisting of 2,000 Watanabe Moritsuna, 3,000 Honda Tadakatsu, and Mizuno Tadamasa 3,000. Behind the support group, the 3,000 banners led by Tadashi Okubo were the last line to defend Ieyasu's main camp, while Tokugawa Ieyasu himself was deployed at the end with his military advisors Masanobu Honda and Tadashi Okubo, leading 17,000 men to the finale.

Knowing that the Tokugawa army had set up a fish-scale formation in front of Hinohara, the Toyotomi army, which was holding high the triple golden umbrella of the coiling dragon, responded with crane wings at the suggestion of Fujido Takatora.

As the general general. The 15,000 troops directly under Hidebo were stationed at the west entrance of Hinohara, and the rest of the troops entered the Hibara formation, among which the 5,000 sergeants of Fujido Takatora were arranged on the westernmost side of Hinohara as the center of the Crane Wing Formation, which could not only protect Hideho's main formation, but also play the role of commanding the whole army. It is on the north side of Fujido Takatora. From near to far, there were 3,000 Yamato people such as Kishida Tadashiyuki, 5,400 troops made by Akaza Yoshiie, Hojo Clan, and Hosokawa Tadashiko, and 9,000 Fukushima Masanori; On the south side of Takatora were 4,000 Mino people of Hidecho Kawajiri, 4,000 men of Nasu Shikichi, and 6,000 men of Kyogoku Takaji, of which Kyogoku Takaji was stationed at the foot of Mt. Kohino instead of Yuki Hideyasu, so that the latter could join forces with the subsequent Iwasuka Iemasa with 9,000 troops, and as a striker against Honda Tadamasa.

As of 12 o'clock at noon, the two sides had completed their formation in the Hibara area, and a little earlier, Tokugawa Ieyasu received a message from an envoy sent by Sakakihara Yasumasa that Kobayakawa Hideaki was alone in Utagawaso to resist the Toyotomi army in northern Sichuan, and Sakakiwara Yasumasa was also hurrying to Hinohara to join the Tokugawa army. What Tokugawa Ieyasu couldn't figure out was that Utagawaso was only more than ten miles away, so why Sakakihara Yasumasa didn't arrive for a long time, out of concern for Sakakihara Yasumasa, he immediately sent scouts along the path to explore the area around Utagawaso.

Before he could think about it, more than a quarter of an hour after the scouts were dispatched, they heard the sound of a battle in the mountains a few miles north of Hinobara, which was like thunder on the ground, which not only attracted the attention of the Tokugawa army, but also made Hideho smell a trace of ominousness.

At this moment, a scout with a banner on his back galloped to the Hideho main camp, and told the 9,000 troops led by Hideho Fukushima Takayoshi that on the way to support, they encountered 7,000 people from the Sakakihara Yasumasa Division, which was also heading south, and the two armies clashed in the area of the Yukawa Old Road north of Hinohara. At present, it has encountered Yubara in the north between the Fukushima Masanori and Okubo Tadatsune armies.

Fukushima Takayoshi felt that Tokugawa Ieyasu would not abandon Sakakihara Yasumasa, and would definitely send Okubo Tadatsune to the rescue, and Hidebo could take this opportunity to order Fukushima Masanori, who was superior in strength, to take the lead in attacking, defeating the weaker Okuhei Iemasa and then smashing Tokugawa Ieyasu's main camp, even if Ieyasu could not end the battle, it could completely disrupt the formation of the Tokugawa army and create conditions for the follow-up attack of the Toyotomi army.

This strategy seemed advisable, but Hidebo understood that this would trap Fukushima Takayoshi in danger, and if Fukushima was defeated by the Tokugawa army, it would also shake the morale of his own family to a certain extent, so he sent an order to Fukushima Masanori to monitor the every move of Okubo Tadatsunebu on the opposite side, and if he went to reinforce Sakakihara Yasumasa, Fukushima Masanori would immediately enter the battle. In this way, the Toyotomi army will reach 18,000 men on this sub-battlefield in Yubara, but the Tokugawa army will only have 11,000 men, and after destroying the Tokugawa army with absolute superiority, the two Fukushima armies can still raid the Ieyasu main camp from the north as Fukushima Takayoshi wants, and achieve the predetermined effect.

Out of thin air, such a sub-battlefield as Yubara was opened, which made Tokugawa Ieyasuzu, who was ready to hit the troops against Hidebo, angry, but as Fukushima Takayoshi thought, even if a hundred were unwilling, Tokugawa Ieyasu was still ready to send troops to support Sakakihara Yasumasa, but in order to guard against Fukushima Masanori's 9,000 troops, he did not send Okubo Tadatsune who was in the front to participate in the battle, but ordered 6,000 people from Watanabe Moritsuna and Mizuno Tadamasa, who were in the support group, to go around to Yubara from behind Okubo to support Sakakihara Yasumasa, so that Hidebo must have been shocked, And then send Fukushima Masanori to participate in the battle, which will give the Tokugawa army a breakthrough in the assault of the Hideho main camp and play a preemptive purpose.

At about thirteen o'clock, the two armies of Watanabe and Mizuno, who had been ordered to support, arrived in Yubara from the trail and launched an attack on the Fukushima army, which was pursuing Sakakihara Yasumasa. In the face of the sudden reinforcements, Fukushima Takayoshi was indeed a little surprised, but with the immovable iron cannon three-stage attack, the Tokugawa army did not gain much advantage, on the contrary, in front of these veterans who had followed Fukushima to fight in Korea, the Sakakiwara Yasumasa Department, which had been continuously intercepted, had a tendency to disintegrate, and Sakakiwara Yasumasa himself had to break away from the front line that was about to collapse and rush to the rear, and then return to the Watanabe Moritsunabu for reinforcements.