"Lord!"

At the moment when the Yoshikawa Hiroya fell, the Maori army fell into a panic of being leaderless, the charging soldiers slowed down, the sergeants behind the palace were stagnant, and the samurai around the Yoshikawa Hiroya were panicked around him, delusionally thinking that their lord was only slightly injured.

However, this trace of delusion, accompanied by the complete absence of the breath of the Yoshikawa Hiroshi family, instantly disappeared, and despair and dazedness diffused in the army like poisonous gas.

"The lord is dead, what are we going to fight?"

"yes, run away!"

Everyone, you and I said a word, and the morale that was already on the verge of collapse finally collapsed at the moment when Yoshikawa fell. The charge suffered heavy casualties, and the lord was killed on the way, this blow caused a large number of troops to begin to flee, but at this moment, Sakai Tadashi rushed to meet and killed two deserters under the horse with one shot, he looked around at the panicked Maori army, and shouted: "The Ministry of Civilians is in trouble, and the army under its command is under my command from now on, if there are those who retreat from the battle, the warlord will deal with it!" With that, Sakai Tadashi ordered the Flag Guardian to wave the battle flag and ask for support from Okubo Tadasabe, who was on the southwest side.

According to the prior agreement, only after the Maori army broke through the Hideho main camp, or led most of Toyotomi's troops out of the main camp, Okubo Tadasa would send troops to respond, but the actual situation was much worse than the plan in advance, not to mention breaking through the main formation, it was a luxury to rely on the current forces to rush to the front of the main formation. Seeing the continuous decline of the army, Sakai Tadashi had no choice but to disrupt the plan and request support from Okubo Tadasa's surprise attack force in advance, hoping that he could immediately send troops and attack the Hideho main camp with the Maori army.

The banner was soon learned by Okubo Tadasa, who was hiding in the woods nearby, but surprisingly, Okubo Tadasaku did not immediately send troops, but instead ordered the army to die down and not act rashly without his orders.

Seeing this situation, all the generals were puzzled, and they all gathered around and hoped that Okubo Tadasa would explain the reason.

Tadashi Okubo's expression was grim. Pointing to the Maori army that was charging not far away, he said, "Do you think Sakai Sarai can break through the Toyotomi army?" ”

"The Toyotomi army has strong firepower and sufficient troops, and with the remnants of the Yoshikawa family, let alone Lord Sakai, even if the god of war is alive, it will be difficult to turn the situation around... Otherwise, Sakai-sama wouldn't have asked your lord for help. ”

"But how much do you think I can make a difference if I send troops?" Tadashi Okubo asked rhetorically. "I thought that the Yoshikawa Ministry's Ministry would be able to divert the tiger from the mountain, or break through the defensive line, and create conditions for our army's surprise attack. But as a result, there was not one in ten cavalry units with the most combat effectiveness, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs itself was killed by stray bullets, with an army of 3,000 people. I'm afraid that there are less than 100 people who can rush to the front of the battle, in this case, wouldn't it be in vain for the family to send troops to death? ”

"What do you mean, sir... Give up supporting Sakai Sarai (Agaku: from the head of Agaku, an official position in ancient Japan)?! A military general asked in horror.

Okubo Tadasa nodded helplessly and sadly, and said softly: "This surprise attack has failed, the more you invest, the more heavy the loss, since you have no power to return to the sky." It is better to return to the main camp and try to preserve the strength as much as possible to accumulate strength for tomorrow's big battle. ”

"What about Sakai-sama? Don't you leave him alone?! The generals asked Okubo Tadasa in horror, and Tadashi bowed slightly, and said helplessly: "If there is no Yale to charge, how can the five thousand soldiers of this family retreat?" The order went down, the army marched, and the rapid march returned to the original camp along the same road! ”

Even if there are a thousand who don't want to. But the military order was like a mountain, and the generals had to lead their reserves to leave the ambush site and return to Ieyasu's main camp, Okubo Tadasa felt that the failure of this surprise attack was because he underestimated Hidebo's strength, and out of guilt, insisted on asking to be the queen of the palace.

In this way, with the 3,000 Maori Army and Sakai Tadashi as a shield, Okubo Tadasaku led 5,000 sergeants to retreat along the same road. Arriving at the Tokugawa Ieyasu main camp before dark, Ieyasu did not punish Tadashi when he learned of the battle, but expressed his understanding and still let him lead 5,000 banners to defend the main camp. Wait for news from the striker.

Looking back at the abbot Hara, Okubo Tadasa's prestige has greatly decreased due to the refusal to save Sakai Tadashi, and since the Tokugawa army is unwilling to die, how can the Maori army die in vain? Flooded with this mentality, more and more Maori soldiers chose to flee, and more samurai from higher levels plotted a mutiny, exchanging Sakai's head for Hideho's forgiveness.

After the three waves of charges, it was already dark, and the entire Maori army was less than 1,200 men, but Sakai Tadashi still ordered the Maori army to charge, and promised them that as long as they broke through Hidebo's main camp, Okubo Tadasaku would come to support as agreed, and join forces with him to kill Hidebo.

His clichés were no longer perfunctory for the collapsing Maori samurai, and a samurai team led by Yoshikawa retainers outflanked Sakai's squad from the flank, and after being slashed several people, they killed eight Tokugawa retainers, including Sakai Tadayo, in one fell swoop. The Yoshikawa samurai, led by the leader, cut off the head of Tadashi Sakai, and accompanied by two samurai, sent an envoy to Hideho Honjin to show his surrender.

Feeling that this was a crucial time for the Tokugawa family, Hidebo forgave the remnants of the Maori army, confiscated their weapons, and sent them back to Otawara Castle for detention before returning to their hometowns after the war was over. At this point, the Mori army led by Yoshikawa Hiroya was left with only Mori Hidemoto, who was one heart with Hideho, and Tokugawa Ieyasu's disadvantage was further expanded before dark.

At seven o'clock, the two sides withdrew their troops. At this time, the Tokugawa family can be said to have suffered heavy losses, Ii Naomasa, Sakai Tadashi, Matsudaira Tadamasa and other generals died in battle, the Yubara battlefield was finally defeated, and 2,000 people from the two divisions of Kamihara Yasumasa and Watanabe Moritsuna escaped death and went to the Okubo Tadatsune position to rest; Okubo Tadashijo has 4,000 people, Honda Yasushige has 4,000 people, and Mizuno Tadamasa has 1,200 people, and the establishment is relatively complete; Sakai Ieji's 1,000 men withdrew to Honda's Tadashi Victory, and the combined army of 1,000 was used as a barrier to Ieyasu's main camp; Honda Tadashi lost nearly 3,000 troops with one enemy and two enemies, but fortunately, both sides collected troops and saved 4,000 troops; The southern front basically collapsed, with only 3,000 left of Tadamasa Torii and 2,000 left of Masanari Naito, and the entire army of the Yoshikawa Hiroshi family was wiped out; However, Okubo Tadasa's retreat still preserved some strength for Ieyasu, so that the 20,000 troops of the main camp were not damaged.

In this way, Tokugawa Ieyasu's remaining army was only 50,000 men, while Hidebo's strength remained at 72,000, not including Kobayakawa Hideaki's 13,000 men and 37,500 in northern Sichuan, if these two forces were added, Hidebo's total strength would reach a staggering 122,000 men! Tokugawa Ieyasu will not be his opponent at all, and tomorrow's showdown will definitely be a dead end.

"When will they be able to reach Hibara?" In this formation, Xiubao asked nonchalantly.

"In less than two hours, we will be able to arrive in Yubara tonight, and Izumo Mamoru should be the first to get the news." Aoki replied respectfully.

"Very well, we'll see tomorrow." Xiubao smiled slightly, but suddenly remembered something, "What about Jingo, is he still staying in Utagawaso?" ”

Aoki Hisashi nodded: "Exactly, after the defeat of the Uesugi army, Jin Wu did not move, and it is difficult to distinguish between friend and foe......"

"You think it's weird too?"

"Your Majesty doesn't dare, Jin Wu is the support of Taiko, and he should be loyal to the Toyotomi clan......"

"Deservedly? It's a good word," Hideho smiled, "and we should be loyal, but you and I don't know what the truth is, right?" ”