(In the early morning of April 21, the Seven Daimyo of Nishimino, who had received secret letters from Tokugawa Ieyasu like the daimyos, immediately set out to return to Mino according to Tokugawa Ieyasu's instructions, intending to stabilize Nishimino positions before Hideho discovered them, and to cooperate with the Maori army in the direction to take the Noo Corridor in one fell swoop and cut off Hideho's supply line.)

Hidebo was suspicious of the urgency of the generals of Nishiminon, but he had already ordered the ninja army to ambush in the middle of the road, preparing to rob and kill all 47 people in this group, and disguise them as the ninjas of the Tokugawa family, so that he could have an excuse to suppress the Tokugawa family after the war. As a result, Hideho didn't care much about the actions of these people, instead turning his attention to Wakamatsu Castle on the north bank of the Yukawa River. In the case of the loss of more than 3,000 troops, the Toyotomi army finally annihilated 11,000 enemies, completed the three-sided encirclement of the Uesugi army, 70,000 Toyotomi army, except for the island Kiyoko and Hineno Hiroshi who stayed on the Tsuruhara Plateau, 5,600 people, the rest of the army was all put into the battle of the onslaught on Honmaru, and it was not surprising that the castle could be conquered within half a day and complete the final battle against Uesugi Keikatsu.

But it backfired, and at 8 o'clock in the morning of the same day, the south bank of Yukawa, which had been the headquarters of the Toyotomi army and had been peaceful, seemed to be unusual. From the observation tower, the Shima Kiyoko Division of the Tsuruhara Plateau in northern Sichuan found that an army of unknown size was marching mightily towards itself from the streets of Iwakuni, and judging from the direction of the march, the target of this group was not Wakamatsu Castle, but the Toyotomi army garrison in southern Sichuan.

Seeing this, Shima Kiyoko immediately sent 15 scouts to investigate, and sent people to Furukawa Shrine and Utagawaso, the easternmost positions of the southern Sichuan defense line in southern Sichuan, to inform the commanders-in-chief, Mori Katsunobu and Fukushima Takayoshi, and asked them to prepare for battle.

About two quarters of an hour later, the scout rode back to the Tsuruhara Plateau and reported to the island of Kiyoxing: "My lord. It was only then that we found out that this army belonged to the Edo Inner Prefecture, and it was estimated that there were no less than 70,000 people! ”

"Seventy thousand!!" Shima Qingxing roared and took two steps back in surprise. Hurriedly asked, "Have you asked why the Inner Government came with so many troops?!" ”

"The villain sent four scouts to inquire, but ......"

"But what?"

"The four did not come back, and the villain saw that the situation was not good, so he had to return to report to you first."

"Those who come from the inner house are not good!" Shima Kiyoko immediately sent someone to report the situation to Hideho, who was at Fukusenji Temple, and informed the generals of Utagawaso and Furukawa Shrine that they should strictly hold their positions and not let the Tokugawa family pass until they received Hidebo's order.

However, this series of measures was too late for the two front-line strongholds in southern Sichuan. After seizing the four scouts sent by Shima Kiyoko, the Tokugawa army immediately accelerated its movement towards Furukawa Shrine, which had the least garrison, and the 5,000 troops led by Honda Tadamasa were the first to arrive at the Mori Katsunobu station on the east side of the shrine, while Sakakihara Yasumasa led 8,000 troops north to attack Utagawaso, intending to occupy the connection between the Toyotomi army on the east road and the south bank in the later stage, and at the same time clearing the way for Kobayakawa Hideaki to support southward.

Although I received a notice from Koshima Kiyoxing a moment ago, it was said that there was an army coming. However, because the details of whether he was a friend or foe and the scale were not detailed, Mori Katsunobu did not have sufficient mental preparations, on the contrary, Nagamune and Ibu Mori, who led the remnants of a thousand troops to retreat to Furukawa, knew that on the one hand, he went to the shrine to persuade Mori Katsunobu not to worry too much, and on the other hand, he reorganized his armament and was ready to cooperate with the Tokugawa army to take Furukawa at any time.

The Tokugawa vanguard, mainly cavalry, rushed to the front of the Mori Katsunobu army with lightning speed. It was only then that Mori Katsu knew that the other party was Tokugawa Ieyasu's military strength, and under the pressure of the army, Mori Katsunobu immediately sent an envoy to Honda Tadamasa's own team to question, only to learn that the Tokugawa family was to attack Hideho after receiving the crusade order, and Honda Tadamasa told the messenger that the crusade order was Toyotomi Hideyori's acquiescence, and hoped that Mori Katsunobu would not help the abuse, immediately hand over the stronghold, and obey the Tokugawa family's dispatch, otherwise there would only be a dead end.

In the face of such a sudden situation. Mori Katsunobu sent an envoy to Fukusenji to ask for help, and on the other hand, he sent his second son to Honda's Tadamasa headquarters to try to gain his trust and delay time. But he didn't expect that Nagamune Ibu Morikin, who had been stationed in the southwest of the shrine, found a messenger for help, captured him and handed it over to Honda Tadamasa, and informed him that the soldiers were speedy. We should not delay much in this forward position, and we should immediately seize Furukawa Shrine as Tokugawa Ieyasu said, rush to Kohiyama to join forces with Mori and Yuuki, and rely on the instantaneous superiority of forces to defeat the Hideho Honjin and achieve victory.

Annoyed by Mori Katsunobu's disobedience, Honda Tadamasa ordered an immediate attack on Furukawa, and Chosamune took the opportunity to send troops to block the western and southern exits of Furukawa and launch a sneak attack on the unsuspecting Maori army. Under the frantic attack of 6,000 troops, the Mori army collapsed in less than three moments, and Mori Katsunobu was wounded in the shoulder by an iron cannon and his son and second son were beheaded by the Honda army.

But he didn't expect that at this time, Utagawa Village was also a bloody storm, Fukushima Takayoshi and Yamanaka Asanobu had not yet woken up, and they were led by Sakakihara Yasuma, one of the four kings of Tokugawa, to lead 8,000 sneak attacks, fortunately, Utagawa Village was surrounded by 7,000 Toyotomi troops, except for the initial Tokugawa army to occupy some advantages, it basically maintained a state of melee, and the two sergeants repeatedly fought for the eastern, southern, and northern exits of Utagawa Village, and Sakakihara Yasumasa sent several envoys to northern Sichuan desperately according to the prior agreement, and conveyed Tokugawa Ieyasu's instructions to Kobayakawa Hideaki, He was asked to work with the Uesugi family to contain the Toyotomi army in northern Sichuan, so that the Tokugawa army had enough time to start a decisive battle with Hideho's main team.

When Mori Katsunobu arrived at Utagawaso, Nankou had just been recaptured by Yamanaka Asanobu's Shimononobu, and the 200 remnants were incorporated into the Nankou garrison to participate in the battle without resting, and Mori Katsunobu himself went to Fukushima Takayoshi Honjin to inform the generals of the military situation of the fall of Furukawa Shrine, Fukushima Takayoshi did not expect that the Tokugawa family would betray the Toyotomi clan at this moment and form an alliance with Mori Terumoto, and immediately sent the envoy to the west exit of the still safe Banjing to Omotemachi and Fukusenji Temple, the former was to ask for help from the Satake army, and the latter was to inform Hideho of the military situation, Prepare him to fight against Tokugawa Ieyasu.

From the discovery of the Tokugawa army's movements to the capture of Furukawa Shrine, the Tokugawa army only took more than half an hour, and the speed of the attack was completely beyond everyone's imagination. By 10 o'clock in the morning, Tokugawa Ieyasu's 50,000 troops and 12,000 temple troops, a total of 62,000 people, all arrived at Furukawa Shrine, and Sakakihara Yasumasa basically controlled the eastern part of Utagawaso, while Honda Tadamasa led the vanguard to the eastern end of the Hiyama Plain at the northern foot of Kohiyama Mountain, and sent an envoy to the Yuki Hideyasu Department stationed in the plain, asking him to join forces with Mori Hidemoto on the mountainside and Yoshikawa Hiroke on the top of the mountain to join forces with him and raid Fukusenji Temple as the vanguard of the Tokugawa army.

At Furukawa Shrine, Tokugawa Ieyasu sincerely prayed that the battle would eliminate Hideho in one fell swoop and complete the Tokugawa family's great cause of dominating Japan. (To be continued...)