"I would like to inform His Highness Oda that the enemy's right flank formation has loosened slightly under the attack of our army's six hundred cavalry in turn, but it has been quickly adjusted and reset, and no signs of reserve support have been found......" Tokugawa Ieyasu's messenger gave a detailed account of the battle situation, and the messenger from Asai Nagamasa on the side had just brought similar news. In the process of trying to get started, it should be said that everything is basically normal. “…… Please ask His Highness Oda to indicate the next move! With that, the messenger stepped back.

"Please tell the two highnesses,......" Oda Nobunaga retracted his gaze that had been staring at the hexagonal army formation opposite, and said in a deep voice to the two messengers, "I am about to attack from the front, please follow up with the two highnesses with a slight misformation in a dense formation with spears and feet." Watch out for enemy cavalry raids and keep the flanks of our attacking troops safe! ”

"Yes!" The two messengers agreed in unison, and then mounted their horses and departed.

"It's about to begin...... Oda Nobunaga said, slowly raising the two-and-a-half-foot-long Bagua Pattern military fan in his hand. I saw him swing forward violently, and the guards around him immediately waved a huge red order flag.

With the shouts of the mountain rising and falling, a huge phalanx of nearly 5,000 people at the front of the plain below the mountain began to move forward, and the dense five-meter spears erected high made this team look like an active forest. A thousand archers and iron cannons marched in a horizontal formation at the front of the army, as if to give a side to the huge square.

"Order Hayashi Satomori's garrison to follow up, keeping a distance of seventy paces from Shibata's garrison; ordered the cavalry reserves of Sasa Narumasa and Naito Katsumasa to guerrilla on both sides, taking care to protect the junction of the attacking forces; Ordered Sakuma ...... "Oda Nobunaga quickly gave one order after another, and one herald after another galloped away.

Not long after the departure of the first phalanx led by Commander Shibata, two more phalanxes set out one after another, and at this time, the troops of Asai and Tokugawa on both sides also maintained the shape of Shibata's troops and pressed towards the army formation of the Rokkaku family in front. At this time, the enemy's troops, after a slight commotion, lined up more closely.

Gradually, the men and horses of the two sides continued to approach, and when they were one hundred and fifty paces away, the archers of the Hexagon Army began to release arrows, and from time to time a soldier of the Oda family fell to the ground with an arrow. A hundred paces, from the formation of the Hexagonal Army, a roar of iron cannons sounded. There was a fluctuation in the forces of the Oda Army, and it seemed that there was still an instinctive fear of the new weapon.

The ranks of Oda's troops stopped advancing, and bows and iron cannons located in the front row began to fire at the enemy. Seeing that his own side also had powerful weapons that were not inferior to the enemy, the morale of the Oda army quickly stabilized. As the iron cannons of both sides exchanged fire, the two armies were quickly enveloped in a large white mist.

"It seems that the hexagonal family is also the end of the strong crossbow!" After listening for a while, I silently calculated in my heart. The gunfire on the Roxagon side was gradually suppressed by the Oda Army, and the Oda side had significantly more iron cannons than the Roxagonal Army. As far as I know, there were about 300 iron cannons in the Heide Panhide Reserve, which accounted for half of the total number of the Oda family, and the Rokkaku side analyzed the gunfire of about 100 at most. Due to the rarity and high quality of this weapon, most of the princes scattered them to the important ministers, and it was rare for the Oda family to use them in a centralized manner, which was both a reward and avoided the overpower of one family, but at the same time greatly reduced the efficiency of the use of iron cannons.

The rate of fire of the iron cannon takes more than a minute apart, and if about 30 rounds are fired in a row, the barrel will be overheated and the fire will not be able to be loaded, and even some minor problems will begin to appear, so it is impossible to play a decisive role in the absence of obstacles. Shibata Katsuie can also be regarded as a battle-hardened battle, and he seized the opportunity of the suppression of the momentum of the Hexagonal Army in time to order the troops to continue to advance. Archers and cannons quickly retreated from the gap in the queue, and spearmen filled the holes in a dense formation. Thirty paces away, the soldiers in the front rows of both sides lowered their originally upright spears amid the shouts of the samurai, and trotted towards the enemy, starting a bloody battle! Soon after, the Asai and Tokugawa armies on both flanks arrived in front of the battle and entered the battle one after another.

Although it was far away, I still felt the cruelty of the battle. In the dust and smoke of gunpowder, even the loud conch can't suppress the shouts of the Ashigaru people when they fight! It was the dying howl of a beast, filled with the breath of death! Moving to the side, I saw a sickly excited expression on Oda Nobunaga's face.

"Tell Your Highness!" One of the heralds said, his face stained with blood. "The enemy Yuto and Aoyama have entered the battle, and Shibata-sama has faced 10,000 frontal enemies! Lord Shibata's attack is currently blocked, and our army has retreated slightly! ”

"Order Shibata to resist me!" Oda Nobunaga roared, and then said to the left and right: "Order Hayashi Watari and Kato Mitsuyasu to fight!" The troops of the clan Buquan, Nakajima Bungo, and Bee House Yoritaka entered the second line of preparation, and ordered the ninja to keep a close eye on the movements of the enemy reserves! "A few heralds took the order and galloped down the mountain." Hexagon Yoshixian, you old guy, I see how long you can last! He muttered to himself through gritted teeth.

With the increase in the number of front-line troops, the Oda army gradually regained its superiority. The Hexagons slowly retreated, but the ranks were scattered and became more compact due to the contraction of the battle line. The minutes were ticking, and it was already half past one in the afternoon, and the battle had been going on for nearly four hours, with no end in sight. Oda Nobunaga began to become fidgety, biting his lip and pacing back and forth, everyone silently nervous. I quietly glanced at Ikeda Tsuneko not far away, and he smiled wryly and shook his head at me.

"Look, lord!" Hidemasa Hori, who was beside Nobunaga, suddenly pointed to the left front and shouted excitedly.

Everyone looked in that direction, and Oda Nobunaga grabbed the telescope and kept focusing at it. I saw an unnatural wave of the banner on the right flank of the Hexagonal Army, and vaguely there were people running to the rear. "What's going on? What's going on? ......" Oda Nobunaga muttered as he watched.

"His Highness Oda!" A messenger from the Tokugawa family suddenly appeared in front of us. "The 200 cavalry of our army Honda Tadakatsu attacked the enemy, and now the enemy Okayama reserve has collapsed, and the right flank has wavered! His Royal Highness Tokugawa, please attack quickly! ”

"Report!" At this time, another front-line herald came. "The enemy's general reserve, Rokkaku Yoshiji and Hirai Dingmu, has now rushed to its right flank to support, and a gap about 100 paces wide has appeared between the enemy's central army and the right flank!"

"Ha, ha, ha, it's finally here!" Oda Nobunaga looked up to the sky and laughed. "Pass my order: The second-line troops will attack on all fronts, and the Niwa Reserve, Sakuma Reserve, and Takigawa Reserve will also press up, and be sure to stick to the enemy's frontal forces! The 3,000 cavalry of the Sasa, Maeda, Mori and Kaho reserves passed through the gap on the left side and went straight to the main formation of Rokkaku Yoshiken. ”

"Yes!" There was another rush of chaos, and another group of heralds and pegasus left.

After a while, the cavalry of the brigade galloped from the foot of the mountain to the left, bringing up a large cloud of dust. The Hexagonal Army was not only on the right flank, but also on the central army and the left flank, which had varying degrees of confusion. Finally, the banner of Rokkaku Yoshiken fell, and a large number of enemy soldiers who had lost their fighting spirit did not want to fight this meaningless battle anymore and rushed to flee for their lives, and the first battle of Oda Nobunaga on the Shangluo Road gradually came to an end......

————————————————————————————————————————

Bear in Winter: There are a lot of good comments in today's book review, which have benefited me a lot, and I would like to express my gratitude here! I only found out in the information that the only decent battle between Oda Kamiraku and the Rokkaku family was in the house, and it is unknown how many people the Rokkaku family dispatched, and the number of 35,000 is estimated by me based on the Rokkaku family's long-term confrontation with Hosokawa and Miyoshi, and the suppression of Asai, but it is also true that "after the Goto incident, the Rokkaku family has begun to be chaotic, and I am afraid that it will not be able to raise so many troops." As for the iron cannon of the Rokkaku family, I would like to remind you that at this time, Sugitani Zenjubo is still working for the Rokkaku family!