When Toki Tsuyasu arrived at Kojin slowly with the main force, news had already come from the front that Inaba Masatoshi's troops had defeated the vanguard of the shogunate army and confronted the shogunate army across the Kotsu River.

The team, which was still lifeless, finally came alive after hearing the incredible news of the victory. From Toki Yatai to an ordinary soldier, he was not optimistic about the outcome of this trip out of the city to meet the shogunate army.

The army led by Toki Yatai was less than a quarter of the samurai, and the rest were forcibly recruited farmers and townspeople, ordinary people with no combat experience, and they had no confidence to fight against the shogunate army. This is why Toki Tatai strongly opposed the night march, because he was afraid that these forcibly conscripted soldiers would take advantage of the night to flee the ranks.

However, when Inaba Masanori repelled the vanguard of the shogunate, the soldiers who had thought that they were going to die this time finally got some life. After repeatedly questioning the messenger who came to report the news, and after confirming the authenticity of the news, he finally urged his subordinates to speed up their pace.

From top to bottom, they tried to see with their own eyes how the shogunate army had failed miserably, so Toki Tayasu's order was finally carried out without compromise for the first time. At 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Toki finally arrived at the battlefield at Kotsugawa. Looking at the corpses floating in the river and the rows of corpses that were fished ashore on the other bank, Toki Yasu's department finally believed what Inaba Masatoshi said.

After the forces of Toki and Inaba Masanori converged, the opposing shogunate army immediately retreated some distance to the rear, as if fearing that they would attack again.

That night, the main force of the shogunate army also reached the east of the Kotsugawa River and joined up with the Yagyu Soju Division, which had been defeated in the morning, and the shogunate army reached more than 4,000 troops, once again outnumbering the Suruga army.

After dawn the next day, the shogunate army did not rush to attack, but cut wood to make pontoon bridges and large camps; While waiting for the arrival of the follow-up troops. After seeing that the shogunate army on the opposite side had changed its previous posture of driving straight forward and wanted to advance in a steady and steady manner, the Suruga army held a second military meeting.

This time, Toki Yatai finally treated Matsuura Nobumoto and Numata Kenichi a little politely, although he held his own identity, but he was not a fool, and under the persecution of the shogunate army on the other side, he couldn't do anything unscrupulous to despise the heroes.

However, although Toki Yatai put down his body and intended to ease relations with the two, the two sides still did not talk about going together at the meeting. Toki and the other samurai felt that since the shogunate army was not moving, they should not move either. The shogunate could build barracks on the other side, or they could conscript nearby villagers to build a rudimentary fort here, and just go on with the shogunate.

As a result, Matsuura Nobumoto punctured everyone's dreams with one sentence, "If you want to stalemate with the shogunate army, may I ask you, will the shogunate army really stalemate with us?" The shogunate attacked in three ways, and we were just one of them. If the other two ways go wrong, what's the point of us staying here? It's just the difference between dying early and dying late.

In addition, the Kotsu River is not a large river with turbulent waves, and if the shogunate army is just paralyzing us, they can always make a detour upstream to cross the river and then cut off the connection between our army and Sunfu Castle. At that time, how much courage will our army, which has lost the rear, have to fight against the shogunate army? ”

The samurai who were punctured by Matsuura Nobumoto's illusions were very annoyed, and a middle-aged samurai reprimanded Matsuura Nobumoto in an unkind tone: "Don't think that you can talk to Shangguan so rudely by picking up a bargain on the unsuspecting shogunate army." Even His Royal Highness Chungchang has to respect the Tuqi Hall for three points..."

Looking at the disapproving look in Matsuura Nobumoto's eyes, Toki Yatai also felt a burst of fire in his heart. However, on the battlefield, those who have made meritorious contributions have a greater right to speak, and this is still an old practice in the army. So he forced a smile to stop the samurai from standing up for himself, and asked Matsuura Nobumoto as calmly as possible, "Then since you oppose our army's proposal to garrison this place, you don't know what your plan is Matsuura?" You might as well say it and let everyone refer to one or two. ”

Matsuura Nobumoto didn't care about the ridicule in the eyes of the surrounding samurai, whether it was China or Japan, in such an era, military science was not something that ordinary people, or even ordinary samurai could touch. Although the samurai present were surprised that Masayori Inaba was able to defeat more than double the shogunate army with 800 men, they did not think that samurai of unknown origin such as Nobumoto Matsuura could say anything useful to military command.

"The purpose of the existence of armies is to destroy their opponents and break their will to resist. Whether it's defending or attacking, if it's not to destroy the other party, it's pointless.

If we sit across the Kotsu River from the shogunate army, will we be able to destroy each other with our eyes? This is obviously impossible, the longer we confront the shogunate army here, the reinforcements from the other side will arrive one after another, and what reinforcements can we expect from our side?

If the shogunate army on the opposite side exceeds our army by several times, will we still be able to hold the Kotsugawa River? Half of Sunpu Castle's military strength was pinned down here by the Shogunate Army, and once the other two Shogunate Army broke through the defense line in front of them, what strength did Sunpu Castle have to rescue them? When the shogunate army arrives at Sunfu Castle, what way back do we have?

Do you want to watch yourself being swept by the Shogunate Army in the back and annihilated on the edge of the Kotsu River? The corpse in the river yesterday, who knows that it is not tomorrow's us?

If the shogunate army does not move, then our army should give up this place and lure the other side to move. Only when the other party makes a move, will it give us a chance to take advantage of it..."

Matsuura Nobumoto's words suddenly made many samurai put away their contempt, and they only recognized it at this time, Matsuno Shigemoto's subordinates who had been snare from nowhere did they indeed have some real skills, and they did not rely on their own brute bravery and excellent equipment to win yesterday's victory.

After hearing this, Toki Yatai thought for a long time before frowning and said, "What if the other party just refuses to move, or if they build a pontoon bridge over the river step by step, and then build a large camp here to prevent us from a surprise attack when they cross the river in a big way?" ”

While Matsuura Nobumoto was still thinking, a silent Numata Kanichi said: "So we should divide our troops, Toki Hall retreats to Kotsu with the main force, and Matsuura and I take advantage of the cover of tonight's night to cross the Kotsu River from upstream."

If the Shogunate saw our retreat and crossed the river in pursuit of our main force, then Matsuura and I attacked the Shogunate's camp on the other side and burned the pontoon bridge. If the shogunate army is cautious, they will first control the Kotsu River and then slowly cross the river.

Matsuura and I crossed the other side's camp and directly attacked the Satrai Ridge in the rear of the shogunate army, cutting off the logistics channel of the shogunate army. I saw that the shogunate army had come from afar, but they didn't have much food with them.

Once cut off by our army, they can no longer leisurely cut down trees and build camps. At that time, whether they fight forward or retreat against Satiling, it is the best opportunity for our army to destroy this army. ”

Numata Kanichi's plan suddenly moved everyone, and even Toki Yatai, who had been sinking like water, asked Numata Kanichi a little nervously, "Can you two really do these things?" There are at least five or six thousand troops on the other side, and if they find out, you may not be able to come back. ”

Numata Kanichi said confidently, "The shogunate army on the other side did not come from one place, but from various feudal domains, and in addition to the samurai, the lowest soldiers were also peasants who had been forcibly conscripted like us.

In order to prevent these peasants from running home, the shogunate army rarely allowed individual personnel to leave the camp. This also means that although the other side has five or six thousand troops, the area under its control is very narrow.

With the opponent's camp as the center, it should not exceed a radius of 4 kilometers, which is a circular area with a radius of one mile in Japan. As long as we operate outside this area and tread carefully, it is unlikely that we will alarm the shogunate forces on the other side.

At this distance, even if we alarm the shogunate, we can easily get rid of their pursuit. Now that the shogunate is besieging Sunfu on three routes, if it can't completely defeat its way, the siege of Sunfu may be difficult to solve, and our army will have no future to speak of..."

Although Itakura Shigemasa and Yagyu Muneki built a large camp on the east bank of the Xingjin River in a good time, the two of them were also uneasy in their hearts.

Originally, in the assumption of the two of them, they should have crushed all the way with superior forces, and there was no accident to hit Junfu City.

However, yesterday's battle of Kotsugawa not only crippled the armies of Numazu and Odawara, but also the troops recruited by the other feudal clans also became cowering.

Although Yagyu wanted to rush across the Xingjin River to avenge his defeat yesterday, the decline of the morale of the army made him and Itakura Shigemasa have to listen to the advice of those feudal generals, first build a large camp on the east bank of the Xingjin River to set up a position, and then urge the follow-up troops to come as soon as possible and concentrate all their forces to attack the Junfu army on the opposite side.

In addition to the 6,000 troops led by them, the second batch of 3,000 troops requisitioned from the distant feudal states was almost as far as the Fuji River. After the two armies converged, excluding those troops that were eliminated, there were also 8,000 people, which was an absolute advantage compared to the Suruga army of nearly 3,000 people on the opposite side.

However, just as Itakura Shigemasa and Yagyu were anxiously waiting for the follow-up troops to arrive one after another, the Suruga Army, which had been confronting them for more than a day, suddenly disappeared. Yagyu sent several of his disciples across the river to investigate, only to find that the Suruga army on the opposite side had retreated to the small town of Xingjin not far from the Xingjin River at night.

The small town of Xingjin has the word "city" in its name, but it is not a city in the real sense. It was simply a large village that provided a resting place for travelers to and from the Tokaido, and although the town was surrounded by a few low wooden fences, it was also used as a guard against bandits rather than the army.

Although Itakura Shigemasa and Yagyu did not understand why the commander of the Suruga Army would do such an unwise thing, they knew very well that if there were no other ambushes around, 3,000 people would undoubtedly be killing themselves in the small Kotsu Castle.

All they had to do was trap the army in the small city, and then wait for the follow-up troops to arrive, either dig trenches and besiege them, or lead the army to attack, and the Suruga army, which was very powerful, was finished. Having lost such a force, the shogunate did not know how many casualties they had to reduce when attacking Sunpu Castle.

Eager to wash away the shame of defeat, Yagyu Sotori, after finding out that there was indeed no ambush near Kotsu Castle, once again asked Itakura Shigemasa to be the vanguard of the army and trap the Suruga army in Kotsu Castle.

Itakura Shigemasa, who was unwilling to offend the general's swordsmanship teacher and longed for success in the first battle, finally decided to cross the river at night. Yagyu Soju led 1,500 forwards first, and he himself brought 2,500 Chinese reinforcements, and more than 1,000 troops from Numazu and Odawara, who had been badly damaged and demoralized, were stationed in the main camp to meet the follow-up reinforcements that would arrive in a day or two.

It is about 1 km from Kojin River to Kojin Town, and about 3 km from Kotsu River to Satrai Ridge. If you are walking empty-handed, it will take about 20 minutes to get from the Xingjin River to the small town of Xingjin; It takes about 30 minutes for a traveler with a backpack; And if it is a heavily armed soldier marching in a vigilant posture, it will not last more than 40 minutes.

On the third night of the defeat of the Kotsugawa River, Yagyu Muneki quickly built the prepared pontoon bridge under the cover of night, and then spent an hour and a half to complete the crossing of the river and the march to the foot of Kotsu Castle, blocking the Suruga army in the castle.

Looking at the lanterns lit up on the wooden fence and the noise coming from the city, Yanagi Zongju finally said to the disciples beside him in a happy mood: "Go and pass the word to Itakuraden, just say that our army has successfully blocked the Suruga army in the city, ask him to cross the river as soon as possible to come to support, and firmly block the Suruga army in Xingjin Castle..."