On the streets of Numata Castle, a few miles away, an army holding high the banner of Mitsuha Aoi marched mightily westward. The army's commander-in-chief, Yasumasa Sakakihara, rode at the front of the procession, along with Okuhira Iemasa, the head of the Okuhira clan, and Sakai Ieji, the head of the Sakai clan.

Due to his poor performance on the Hibara battlefield, which indirectly led to the defeat of the two wings, and many generals were killed, Tokugawa Ieyasu wanted to execute the two several times, but they were persuaded by Sakakihara and others. This time the two of them accompanied them was also to give them a chance to make up for their mistakes, Ieyasu had a word first, if they couldn't conquer Numata Castle, the two would be cut off from the army.

At this time, Okuhei and Sakai had long lost their pre-war arrogance and arrogance, and cautiously followed Sakakihara Yasumasa and respectfully listened to his deployment mission.

"The two of you also know that this Numata Castle is located at the confluence of the three rivers of Tone, Hasugen, and Katapin, and there are swamps on three sides, east, west, and south. Sakakihara Yasumasa said: "Fortunately, ninjas have been arranged to monitor the city, otherwise if it were really tomorrow, Sanada Yasubo Mamoru would have mobilized a large army to prepare to defend the city." The lord asked us to go out first, the purpose of which was to take advantage of his unpreparedness and make a quick decision to clear the way for the southward march to Minowa Castle. ”

Okuhei Iemasa and Sakai Ieji nodded their heads again and again: "I heard that there are only 500 peasant soldiers stationed in the city, and it doesn't take a moment for my Tokugawa elite to take it down." ”

"That can't be taken lightly," Sakakihara Yasumasa said with a serious face: "Anfang Mamoru is like a god in using soldiers, and I can't forget the hardships that my family suffered in Uedawara back then." ”

"That's because you didn't go out, if you had led the troops to go, it wouldn't have been like that." Okuhei Iechang said with a smile, he didn't think that Sakakihara Yasumasa didn't talk, but glared at him coldly, which made him tremble all over his body, and he didn't dare to talk anymore.

According to Sakakihara Yasumasa's assumption, Masayuki needed time to unify after the mutiny, and at this moment he was not ready for war, and there was a shortage of troops in the city, so Masayuki would no longer divide his troops to defend Azen and Kamada outside the city, which happened to provide a temporary base for the Tokugawa army to prepare for the storming of Numata Castle.

"My lord, there is Ah Zeng in front of you." The scout reports back to Yasumasa Sakakihara. Kang Zheng stretched his neck and looked at it, only to see that it was pitch black in front of him, so he bowed his head slightly and said: "Sure enough, it is an empty city, inform the army to speed up the pace, and wait until Kamada can rest for a while." ”

"Aren't you going to fix it here?" Sakai asked.

Sakakibara Yasumasa shook his head: "You may not know if you haven't been here, this Azen terrain is relatively flat, and it is generally used as an outpost of the Numata garrison, and it is relatively far away from Numata Castle; Kamada is different, it is only separated from Numata Castle by a relatively shallow swamp, that is the first line of defense of Numata defenders, once Kamada is taken, it will be a shortcut to attack Numata, coupled with the superiority of our army's troops, it will be able to win with one blow. ”

Everyone nodded in admiration when they heard this, and immediately urged the soldiers in the rear to speed up their pace and strive to arrive at Kamada within an hour. But at this moment, a red light illuminated the western sky, and the red light spread more and more widely, and in a short time, the distance of the road was dyed red, and this red could be clearly seen even by Tokugawa Ieyasu in the camp.

Sakakihara Yasumasa immediately ordered the march to be suspended and asked the scouts to go to investigate immediately, and not long after, the scouts came to report on horseback, and there was no lack of excitement and joy in his words: "Lord Kaiyu, after investigation by his subordinates, Numata Castle not far away is on fire, and Kamada Castle in the east of the city seems to have also burned!" ”

"You see clearly, it's really Numata Castle?" Yasumasa Sakakihara cautiously confirmed with the scout.

The scout nodded earnestly and replied, "Absolutely, the whole city is in a sea of fire at this moment, and the fire is so big that it is not something that can be impersonated casually!" ”

"My lord, it seems that the Sanada army set fire to the city, abandoned the city and fled." Okuhei and Sakai said excitedly.

"Presumably, Anfang Mamoru noticed the whereabouts of our army, and knew that it would be difficult for the army of Numata Castle to resist our army, and he didn't want to leave the grain and grass in the city for our army to repair, so he set fire to the city and led his troops to retreat." Sakakihara Yasumasa looked delicate, both a little lost and a little lucky, after all, more is better than less, without the entanglement of the Sanada family, the road to Shinano should be smoother.

"Looking at this fire, the Sanada army must not have gone far, why not take the opportunity to chase and kill, maybe I can take the head of Anfang Shou, and it is a great achievement to dedicate it to the lord!" Okuhei Iemasa obviously didn't want to return in vain this time, and was anxious to use Sanada Masayuki's head to make up for it. Not to be outdone, the Sakai family took the initiative to ask Sakakihara Yasumasa for help, hoping to lead the Sakai family's 500 cavalry to pursue.

Sakakihara Yasumasa was reluctant to chase, but considering that the two young generals were guilty and didn't want to discourage their enthusiasm, he had to agree, but the premise was that the two of them sent troops together, and the pursuit must not cross the Tone River, otherwise military law will deal with it.

"Yes!" Okuhei Iemasa and Sakai Ieji excitedly bowed to Sakakihara Yasumasa, and immediately mobilized a total of 600 cavalry and 800 ashigaru from their headquarters to pursue them.

"Look at the Azen in front of you, I heard that the Hojo family suffered two losses from the Sanada clan here, and also lost several generals, if it wasn't for the mediation of the Taiko later, they wouldn't have been able to take this place at all." Okuhei Iemasa rode on a horse, galloping while chatting with Sakai Ieji about Azen who was close in front of him.

"Woohoo!" Suddenly, a crisp and neat sound of iron cannons sounded from the front, followed by a burst of gunpowder smoke over Azen, and dozens of samurai on the side of the Tokugawa army fell off their horses in response, and the horses were frightened and rushed around, and the pursuing troops who were still indomitable were instantly chaotic, the neighing of the war horses and the wails of pain were intertwined, and the soldiers in the rear began to flee, but they were scattered and trampled by the cavalry, which aggravated the casualties, and the scene fell into great chaos for a while.

This is not the most important thing, Okuhei Iemasa, who was still talking and laughing just now, happened to be hit in the left chest by an iron cannon, and he lay on the ground and struggled twice before he died, and Sakai Ieji was injured in the right arm, and he hurriedly turned his horse's head and retreated to the east, shouting again and again while retreating: "There is an ambush, retreat immediately, and quickly ask for help from Sakakihara Shikibu!" ”

"Retreat? Don't even think about leaving! Today, I will use you to raise my Sanada military might! At this moment, Sanada Nobuyhiro raised his ten-character spear at the top of the slope and raised his arms, leading two hundred cavalry to rush down from the north slope and kill Sakai Ieji directly. At the same time, another cavalry of 200 men rushed down the southern slope of the rear of the Tokugawa army, not only cutting off the Tokugawa army's retreat, but also killing the soldiers who escaped the fastest.

Sakai Ieji only cared about running for his life, but he didn't know that he had been caught up by Sanada Nobuyoshi from behind, and if it wasn't for the retainers who gave their lives to resist, I am afraid that they would have become a wild ghost under the knife. Hearing the wailing of the retainers, Sakai Ieji turned his head, only to see Sanada Nobuyoshi pull out the ten-character spear from the retainer's body, stabbing himself again, and immediately subconsciously blocked with a sword, but due to lack of strength, he was shot away by Nobushige, and when he saw that the situation was not good, he immediately rode his horse and fled eastward.

"Come to my Sanada house as a guest, how can you leave so early!" As he spoke, Sanada Nobuhiro stretched out his hand and shot again, directly poking Sakai's left chest into a big hole! Sakai Ieji looked down at his chest, and fell off his horse with a hideous expression, Sanada Nobuyoshi stepped over him, and without looking back, he led his troops straight to the Sakakihara Yasumasa main camp.