"The lord is ready to withdraw to Shinano? It was nearly 1,000 miles away from Mutsu, and there was still Ueno on the way, and it was impossible to reach safely under the pursuit of the Toyotomi army, and his subordinates felt that they should retreat and rely on fortified castles to defend. There are many castles in the inner territory of the family, and if the Toyotomi army wants to reach Edo, I am afraid it will take several months, which is enough to buy time for the Maori army. Honda Masashi was convinced, and did not approve of Tokugawa Ieyasu's 50,000 troops to Shinano at all, but hoped that he would follow Odawara's example and return to Edo Cage.

Sekihachi was the skill of Tokugawa Ieyasu for ten years, and Edo Castle was a fortified fortress that the Tokugawa family was confident and difficult to attack, and the plan was supported by many Tokugawa retainers, including Okubo's loyal neighbors, who were not very good with Honda Masanobu.

However, Tokugawa Ieyasu did not accept Honda Masanobu's suggestion, but expressed his reasons: "The old man can be said to have attacked the whole army this time, and the troops that can be mobilized are basically mobilized to participate in the battle, only Hidetada and 10,000 troops remain in Edo, so as not to be attacked by the enemy army; But the old man didn't expect that the battle of Hinohara, which he thought was in his hands, would be like this, with more than 70,000 troops now only 50,000 left, while the army of Youfu has 120,000 people! Let me ask you, does Hibara still have a chance for us to win? ”

Therefore, the lord decided to withdraw his troops, which was understandable to the ministers, but what puzzled Masanobu was why he abandoned the cage castle and went to Shinano? It's a long way to go, and it's not an ideal place to fight. ”

Hearing Honda Masanobu's doubts, Tokugawa Ieyasu was also quite helpless: "The Toyotomi daimyo around the main family have long been eyeing each other, I am afraid that as soon as the battle starts, the right house will send people to inform Ikeda, Asano and other families, these daimyo will definitely occupy the fortified fortress in the strategic place as soon as possible, and prevent the army of the family from returning to Edo. Therefore, it was not feasible to return to Edo, but Hidetada, who was already in Edo, could rely on the fortified castle to resist the attack of the Kanto Toyotomi army and contain a certain amount of troops for his family. ”

"The lord is worried that his family's return route will be cut off?" Honda Masanobu asked.

Tokugawa Ieyasu bowed slightly: "Yes, this time on the expedition to Aizu, Gamo, Utsunomiya, Ikeda, Asano and other daimyo are all left behind, and they will not move, it is obvious that this is an arrangement made by the right government in order to prevent the family from rising." Although they are all daimyo who know no more than 300,000 deeds, it is still more than enough to capture the castle of their own family defended by widows. However, it is good that they will lead the army deep into the territory of the family, and they will not have time to respond to the call of the right government to intercept the family, so that the road to Shinano will be much smoother. ”

"But the minister still didn't understand why he had to retreat to Shinano, couldn't he go to Hokuriku or Kitakamino? The former is all allies of the family, and the latter is defenseless and powerless to block the attack of the family, no matter what, it is much stronger than Kita Shinano. ”

"Shinano, except for Sanada Yasubo Mamoru, are all allies of the family, whether it is Yasunari Ishikawa, Yoshiaki Hineno, Hidehisa Senishi of Kita-Shinano, or Kyogoku Kochi of Minami-Shinano, they have all been mobilized and ready to support their family. In other words, in addition to Kanhachishu, Shinano was the second stronghold of the main family. As for the Hokuriku and Kitaueno you mentioned, the former is too tortuous, and the latter is a plain field and is the territory of the Toyotomi daimyo on three sides, so it is difficult to hold on, so it is not suitable for the family to make a comeback. In short, as long as they can get to Shinano smoothly, the family can organize another decisive battle, and by then, the outcome is still unknown. ”

Tokugawa Ieyasu was full of confidence, and he first ordered Honda Masanobu to send people to Hokuriku to inform the three families who were waiting, Hori, Murakami, and Mizoguchi, and let them lead their troops south along the North Road Road into the streets of Tohoku Province and capture the Kawanaka Island territory of the Gamo family in Kita-Shinano; After that, he sent people to Shinano Kojujo Castle to inform Senishi Hidehisa that he should immediately summon the Shinano Daimyo to the north to assist the Northern Army in attacking Gamo and connecting the streets of Tohoku Province; Finally, a retreat plan was drawn up in an effort to achieve a strategic shift to Kita-Shinano with minimal casualties.

Through discussions with the important ministers in his family, Tokugawa Ieyasu decided to integrate 11,200 people from the three divisions of Okubo Tadsune, Honda Yasushige, and Kamihara Yasumasa into one unit, as the first front temple army, responsible for dealing with the pursuit of more than 50,000 Toyotomi troops in the Yubara area; Secondly, the 10,000 main forces of Honda Tadamasa and Sanada Nobuyuki could only serve as the second front army due to the enemy on three sides, responsible for dealing with the Toyotomi army in the area of the main battlefield; As for the Toyotomi army at the northern foot of Kohiyama Mountain, it was naturally handed over to the two divisions of Torii Tadamasa and Naito Masari, who had just received reinforcements from Okubo Tadasa and Okubo Tadashi, and the two divisions originally only had 5,000 soldiers left, but with the support of the flag warriors brought by the Okubo clan, it was already a powerful army of 13,000 people, and it should not be a problem for them to block Kyogoku Takaji and Mori Hidemoto.

However, in view of the fact that the Numata Kaido where the Tokugawa army planned to retreat began in the northeast of Mt. Kohiki, Tokugawa Ieyasu had to be on guard against the Toyotomi armies at the northern foot of Mt. Kohiki, and that Natsukichi and Hidecho Kawajiri, who had killed Naomasa I, were also interested in participating in the battle against Torii and Naito, so Tokugawa Ieyasu had no choice but to order Honda Tadakatsu to lead 3,500 men to support Naito's two divisions. As a result, the Third Front Temple Army topped the Third Route Army with 16,500 men, and in comparison, Tokugawa Ieyasu's banner only had a pitiful 12,000 men, and it seemed that it would be better to be careful if he wanted to successfully retreat to Shinano.

Under normal circumstances, the number of the temple army would not account for the main part of the total strength of the army when the army was withdrawn, but this time, Tokugawa Ieyasu handed over nearly four-fifths of the strength to the general of the temple army, which was really a last resort. Due to the previous all-out engagement, the battle line from south to north was stretched so long that it was difficult to retract, and not only that, but the huge military superiority of the Toyotomi clan also made it necessary for Tokugawa Ieyasu to deploy enough troops to block the pursuit of the Toyotomi army. After repeated considerations, Tokugawa Ieyasu chose the withdrawal plan of changing the front army to the rear army and the rear army to the front army, which made the forward who controlled the main strength of the Tokugawa army instantly serve as the palace army to escort the retreat of the Tokugawa main camp.

In fact, neither experienced veterans nor young generals who had just entered the battlefield were reluctant to appear on the pursuit line of the Toyotomi army as a palace army at this time, and the previous day's battle was exhausted and demoralized, and now it was necessary to move overnight, and it was difficult for anyone to support such frequent military operations. However, Tokugawa Ieyasu did not care about this, and he forcibly demanded that all armies act according to his instructions, otherwise they would be dealt with by military law after the war.

As a result, the front-line soldiers had no choice but to act as the main army, and when the Tokugawa army quietly left the main camp for Numata Kaido, they gradually retreated to the south according to the established plan.

How could such a large-scale transfer not disturb Hidebo, after receiving an urgent report from the Toyotomi army in front, Hidebo immediately ordered the whole army to pursue, of which the army around Yubara was led by Fukushima Takayoshi, including 37,500 men from northern Sichuan, 6,000 from Fukushima Takayoshi, and 5,000 from Kisada Keiyoshi, a total of 48,500 men; Fukushima Masanori led 8,000 men south, and supported the Isuka Iemasai and Yuki Hideyasu in the main battlefield with Hosokawa Tadashi, people, and Yamato people, with a total of 23,000 troops in six forces; As for the southernmost army, there were 4,000 men of Mino of Hidenaga Kawajiri, 4,000 men of Nasu Shikichi, 6,000 men of Kyogoku Takaji, and 8,000 men of Mori Hidemoto, for a total of 22,000 men; At the same time, Hideho also sent someone to invite Kobayakawa Hideaki to send troops, so that he could attack Tokugawa Ieyasu Banner from behind, otherwise the Tokugawa army would smoothly enter the streets of Numata.

Hideho absorbed the 5,000 troops of Fujido Takatora into the main camp, and led 15,000 men to the northern foot of Mt. Kohino, intending to destroy the Tokugawa army in one fell swoop before it left the Yubara battlefield with Mori Hidemoto.