When the sky was bright, on the edge of a mulberry forest in the upper reaches of the Anwei River, nearly a thousand soldiers dressed in different costumes were scattered in more than a dozen groups in this clearing, each sitting around and relaxing and resting.

On this night, the Osaka army released more than 1,000 prisoners, and due to the darkness of the night, they could not distinguish the way, and most of them chose to go north along the Anwei River in order to avoid getting lost.

Except for a very few of these captives who wanted to return to the shogunate army, they did not flee too far, and most of the soldiers would rather starve than go home, so they stayed away from the camp of the shogunate army. When it was dawn, the soldiers gathered together.

Because the Osaka army disrupted their affiliation when they released the prisoners, not many of the people who escaped knew each other, and everyone sat together according to the batch of people who were released. When it was dark, everyone didn't think anything was out of the ordinary. But when the sun rose, many people found that not all of the released companions were empty-handed, and at least three teams were still carrying weapons.

These armed companions, though dressed in similar clothes as them, did not look as tired as they were, lying on the ground staggeringly, but remained vigilant. This made the unarmed crowd fearful, and subconsciously stayed away from the three teams.

In a small circle in the middle of the three teams, Matsuura Nobumoto said to Li Chenfang, who was sitting next to him, with some anxiety: "My lord, there is still no news from Numata Kanichibu, and I don't know where they went last night.

Our sentinels had already reconnoitred the vicinity, and from us, a little north to the east, about 2 kilometers away, was a ferry crossing on the Yodo River, and across from it was Hirakata-jukuba.

However, there were at least six or seven hundred garrisons stationed in the lodging grounds, and if we attacked directly, Yodogawa would become a natural fortification for the other side, and even if we found Numata's brigade, we might not be able to cross the river, and it seemed that we would have to wait until the evening. ”

Li Chenfang didn't seem to listen to Matsuura Nobumoto's words, he had been observing the cowering deserters outside, and after a long time he made a decisive decision: "Time is very important to us now, even if those shogunate samurai are stupid, there will always be people who doubt our intention to release prisoners in batches.

Even if they don't send people to search the west bank of the Yodo River, they will strengthen the defenses of Hirakata's lodging field. Once they have strengthened their logistical accessibility, we may not be able to realize our plans.

It's okay if Numata can't be contacted, don't we still have so many companions who have fled here? As long as we use them as a cover to enter the Hirakata lodging grounds, will anyone be able to stop us? ”

Rao is always bold Matsuura Nobuyuan, after watching those unmorale deserters for a while, he also said to Li Chenfang with a little weakness: "They are now estimated that they can't even beat the peasants in the village, and they can still help us enter the Hirakata lodging field?" I fear that the defenders on the other side will shout at them a few times, and they will scatter and flee, and then they will not expose us. ”

Li Chenfang whispered in his ear, then patted him on the shoulder and said, "You do what I just said, if they refuse to listen, we have nothing to lose." But if someone responds, we'll take the risk. A manly man, if you want to be famous in the world, how can you not take risks! ”

Seeing the excitement in Li Chenfang's words, Matsuura Nobuyuan could only swallow his doubts back into his stomach, got up and walked out of the circle.

In the suspicious eyes of these fugitive soldiers, Matsuura Nobumoto stood on a big rock and said loudly, "Brothers, although we have been released by the people of Osaka, the shogunate's conscription order has not ended.

If you don't stay here, it won't be long before someone comes up after us, and then we ask everyone to go back to the front to fight those Osaka people. If we fail again, will the people of Osaka release us so easily next time? ”

The soldiers looked at each other, none of them had experienced such a scene, and they felt that they were not the leaders of the team, so they were silent, and no one came out to answer Matsuura Nobumoto's question.

Seeing that Matsuura Nobuyuan had a bad start and that this speech encouraging the soldiers was about to fail, Li Chenfang couldn't help but take the initiative to stand up and ask loudly: "What you said is good, but the brothers' homes are not near here, and the homes are hundreds of miles away and hundreds of miles away." Now that everyone has no food on them, will they not starve to death on the road if they continue to walk..."

Although Li Chenfang's voice was a little weird, the questions he raised touched the psychology of most soldiers. These people were so bent on getting home last night that they ran as hard as they could to get away from the camp of the shogunate. However, when they were far away from the camp of the shogunate army, they realized that it was not easy to walk home empty-handed in this season when the fields were empty.

Just when they were silently worried, Li Chenfang nodded slightly at Matsuura Nobuyuan, so Matsuura Nobuyuan continued: "From here to the east, as long as you cross the Yodo River, you will be the Hirakata Subu, where is the logistics transfer place of the Jingyiden army, and there is grain in it. We've been serving the shogunate for three or four months, so why can't we go and have a full meal? ”

The soldiers, who had just held their breath, suddenly became active, and everyone was eagerly discussing Matsuura Nobumoto's words, and soon a real fugitive soldier asked him worriedly: "What if those old men don't give us food and send us back to the front?" ”

Matsuura Nobumoto immediately patted the sword on his waist and said, "We were born and died for the shogunate, and if the shogunate doesn't even give us food, then we'll get it ourselves."

As for us returning to the front, let the shogunate send down the warm clothes first. We were drafted in the middle of summer, and now we are all dressed in thin summer clothes. In such weather, what is the difference between not distributing clothes and freezing us to death?

Everyone crossed the river and had a full meal, and then waited until the evening to continue their escape. In the dark night, the shogunate army will not dare to chase after us..."

After a night of running, the soldiers were already hungry, and Matsuura Nobumoto's words immediately aroused everyone's hope. Although they looked extremely strange, and no one could recognize any of their acquaintances, after Matsuura Nobumoto made these remarks, everyone didn't care about finding out where Matsuura Nobumoto and these people came from.

At Li Chenfang's suggestion, Matsuura Nobuyuan's subordinates also contributed more than a dozen swords and more than 30 spears, although this was just a drop in the bucket for hundreds of empty-handed soldiers, but it greatly stimulated the courage of these soldiers.

At the suggestion of Nobumoto Matsuura, the soldiers, who were mostly strangers, each elected their own leader, and then began to look for wooden sticks and armed. When they were reorganized, they regained their military appearance.

Li Chenfang and Matsuura Nobumoto's subordinates walked in the middle of the group, and the soldiers with wooden sticks walked on the periphery, and no one could see anything unusual about this team at a glance.

When nearly a thousand foot light appeared in a chaotic procession on the west bank of the Yodo River, the defenders of Hirakata's lodging ground were really vigilant. However, when it became clear that they were the defeated Abe Shoji army in front of them, and wanted to ask for some food from them to return home, the defenders quickly relaxed their vigilance.

However, although the defenders of the Hirakata lodging ground allowed them to cross the river and gave them some food to fill their stomachs, they did not allow them to enter the lodging ground, and only allowed them to rest in the open space outside the west gate of the lodging.

After the defenders had distributed some food, one of the soldiers who guarded them announced that they could not continue north and return to their homeland, but that they could only stay here and wait for the order of the Inoiden.

The samurai stationed at Hirakata's lodging ground felt that even if they could not send these ashigaru back to the front line to fight, they would be able to reduce the burden on their subordinates by turning them into coolies carrying food, so they decided to force them all to stay.

Transporting grain from Kyoto to Osaka can be carried down the Yodo River, but it takes labor to haul empty boats from downstream to upstream or to carry grain off ships. Most of the nearby villagers have now fled, and the hard work has to fall to Ashigaru. Now that so many strong laborers have come, the defenders naturally refuse to let them go.

Under the provocation of Matsuura's subordinates, these soldiers, who were bent on returning home, finally quarreled with the defenders who were guarding them.

When a samurai came with a squad of soldiers in the lodging grounds, trying to suppress the troublesome deserters. Nobugen Matsuura finally led his men to make a move, directing his subordinates to attack the defenders while shouting at the agitated deserters around him.

"Master Abe was the first to run away when he was attacked, but now he says that we are deserters, which is to make us take the blame for those samurai masters. When did we ever slack off on paying rent for the shogunate's service?

If we are so obedient to the shogunate, we will not have a way to live, then even if we have to die, we will die at home, and we will never be ghosts in a foreign land.

Let's rush into the lodging ground, seize the granary, and let the samurai lords go and fight the people of Osaka on their own..."

The surrounding deserters were also in turmoil, and they shouted in echo Matsuura Nobumoto. Under the inducement of Matsuura Nobumoto, the defenders of the lodging field in front of him were defeated and everyone went home, which greatly boosted the morale of the deserters.

After confirming the identities of these deserters, the defenders of the lodge had already taken them for their own. The main thing is to prevent them from fleeing, not to prevent them from attacking. Therefore, when nearly 1,000 deserters began to riot, and there were 300 disguised Osaka troops in the middle, the defenders of the lodging field who were not vigilant were suddenly beaten and couldn't figure out their direction.