Chapter 153: The Flowing Water Fades (Part I)

Hidecho Hara was not able to withstand this situation. For him, the situation was a little too complicated. His purpose in Hequan was originally to encircle Quanzhou City, control the main port except for the water gate in the city, prevent most of our army from landing through the port, and rely on the military resources in the city to capture Jinnai; In addition, Kii and Yamato should be monitored to prevent a sudden attack by land. However, now that Nam Hanoi is in danger, and the enemy army is marching towards the Shan Cheng Country, should the crisis in South Hanoi be saved except for rushing to the aid of the Shan Cheng Country? After evacuating Quanzhou City, should we continue to control the port, and how many troops should be left to block the thousands of troops in the city? On the Kii side, do you still need to even say that you can take care of it? If several enemy forces are added together, will they suppress their own side, and will they need to ask Harima for reinforcements?

These issues are very urgent, and some of them need to be decided quickly. Yura Hidecho couldn't cope with it, so he had to gather everyone under his command to discuss the contingency together. However, in such a situation, all that is needed is a decision, and if everyone discusses it, it will only become more complicated and it will not be possible to reach a unified opinion.

After a short half of the day, Yura Hidecho may have realized the preciousness of time, and finally made arrangements for everyone. And in order to appear more secure, he arranged a combination of several opinions, not so much a decision as a compromise of the opinions of all parties. Correspondingly, the forces under his command were also divided into several parts, with Hosokawa Tadashi's Tango people as the first move, and they also sent reinforcements to the mountain city, striving to slow down Keimasa's advance; Takigawa Kataadada's Wakasa people came to the aid of Hatakeyama Masasho in Minamikawachi and assisted him in defending Takaya Castle; The Viet Cong of Sasa Narimasa stayed in place, monitored the direction of Quanzhou Castle and Kii Province, and if the two sides merged, they could retreat in the direction of North Hanoi and rely on Wakajiang Castle to build a defensive line; He himself led Echizen and Kaga as the main force to the direction of Yamashiro, and if he could catch up with Keimasa, he would naturally defeat it, and if he could not catch up, he would retreat to Fushimi Castle in the southern part of Yamashiro Province as a final base for threatening Kyoto and the confrontation with his own family in Kinai.

However, Yura Keihide did not expect that in addition to Quanzhou Port, there was another port around that could be used for the army to land, that is, Settsu Amagasaki Port, which used the Yura family's naval army as a base in the past. Perhaps, after the complete destruction of this water army, the things related to it will be completely ignored! Or is it that all eyes are focused on the three kingdoms of Izumi, Hanoi, and Yamashiro, but ignore Settsu in the west?

When they got the information about Quanzhou City, Zhou Jing and Yan Song Jingding had been floating on the sea for most of the day. When they heard that Xiu Chang had left the Yue Zhong to guard the port of Quanzhou, they immediately led their fleet and transport fleet to Amagasaki, and after landing, they quickly marched east along the north bank of the Yodogawa River, seizing the Yodogawa ferry on the one hand, and joining up with the Jingzheng Department on the other.

After a long day in the afternoon and in the early morning of the next day, Zhou Jing led more than 15,000 people from Hasuike Bei, Waka Bei, and Kii to Yamazaki, successfully defeated the small defenders, and occupied the ferry on the north bank of the Yodo River. Subsequently, he left part of the army to garrison, and led the main force to cross the river and seize the ancient city of Dianchuan in Henan. Unexpectedly, the ancient city of Yodogawa had been occupied by Jing Zheng last night, and now they were about to gather their troops and continue to the north, and when they met each other, although they had some knots earlier, they all laughed out loud at this time. Immediately afterwards, Zhou Jing showed Jing Zheng the order, so the two armies were combined into one, with Zhou Jing as the general and Jing Zheng as the deputy general, and arranged a defense in the south of the Yodo River to meet the arrival of the Yuliang army.

At the beginning of the morning, Hosokawa Tadashi's Tango people also arrived, but they did not dare to carry out the advance military orders, because he only had 6,000 troops, but in front of him was an army of nearly 30,000 who were waiting for him. He had no choice but to retreat quickly and enter the Katryuji Castle of the Yura family to wait for the main force of Hidenaga, but fortunately, since our side was deployed here, he naturally would not go to Kyoto, and his task of "dragging the enemy army" could be regarded as complete!

Such a situation can be described as a joy and a worry for Yuliang Hidenaga. The good news is that Kyoto and Fushimi Castle are safe and sound, but the worry is that the other party's strength has increased greatly, and they have already controlled the ferry, set up a good position, and seized the initiative in the battle. However, as the general of the Yura family in Kinai, he could not escape this battle, and he could not simply return to Fushimi Castle, otherwise, not to mention the great loss of morale of the army, and let the other party wreak havoc in Kinai, and even occupy Kyoto, the morale of the Harima State front line would definitely fall to a low point, and the Yamashiro people, Tanba people, and Settsu people directly under Hideyoshi would inevitably be shaken, and the consequences would be unbearable and serious.

Judging by the military strength of the two sides, there is not much difference. Xiuchang's main force is about 20,000 people, and if you add the Dango people, the number is only a little less than that of your own side; Although the side has already set up a position, the Katryuji Castle in the rear is still in the hands of Hosokawa Tadashi, and even if it cannot win after the battle, it must be able to rely on this castle to achieve a confrontation, at least it is better than fleeing without a fight...... Hidecho Yura may have thought so!

The ensuing course of the war seemed to verify his considerations, and the two sides engaged in the battle for half a day, but failed to make much progress and had to stalemate. The two sides collected their troops very tacitly, ate and adjusted their deployments, and prepared to fight again in the afternoon.

However, in the afternoon, the side dispatched Lotus Pond, Waka, and Ueno Zhubei, and firmly controlled the scene at once, and the Yuliang family was caught off guard and was almost stunned by the head, and the main general Yura Hidenaga saw that the situation was not good, and sent his own direct reserve and cavalry team, but it was still difficult to turn back the battle, and gradually revealed the chaotic momentum.

At this moment, the Hanoi situation suddenly appeared, and they bypassed the castle of Shenglong Temple and launched a direct attack on Yura Hidecho. In front of this army, it is not surprising that the banner of Jinghu and the helmet and horse seal I gave me, and then it is the banner of the Takigawa family, the Ikoma family, the Oda family, and the Nagano family!

The leader of the Oda family is Oda Nobuyge, and the leader of the Nagano family is Nagano Hideto, and they follow Naotora out of Yamato Province and have always been subordinate to Naotora. The leader of the Takigawa family, but not the current head of the family, Takigawa Kazutada, but Takigawa Ichiyi, who lived in seclusion earlier, considering that this decisive battle between the two parties is a critical moment to determine the future of the Takigawa family, he is not worried about the chief who has just succeeded to the throne, so he hides in the army as a flag book to assist Yizhong in making decisions. And when Hidecho Hara decided to divide his troops, Takigawa Kazuyoshi understood that Hidecho was probably going to be defeated, and it was very natural for them to be excluded from the main force of the decisive battle if they were narrowly crowded, but it also gave them a great opportunity to change their position. Therefore, he did not go to support Takaya Castle as ordered, but went to Beihani as a reinforcement, deceived the gate of Wakae Castle, rescued the Ikoma parents who were under house arrest, and then used the Ikoma parents as an intermediary, and took the Jitaki River as a hostage for a while, and subdued the castle to Naotoka, and then joined forces and quickly marched towards the mountain city country.

By the time the Ise, Wakasa, and a small number of reincarnated Ikoma families arrived on the battlefield, it was clear that Hidenaga Hara had fallen to the bottom line. In view of this situation, it was discovered that the Takigawa family and the Ikoma family were following behind Naotora, and the Hosokawa family in Katryuji Castle also hesitated, and they did not go out of the city to stop them, nor did they send a warning to Hara Hidenaga, and the combined forces of the two families rushed straight to the rear of the Yura family.

In the previous battle in the morning, Zhou Jing and Jing Zhengxue hid the three elite reserves, originally planned to break the enemy in one fell swoop in the afternoon, and then divide the troops again, and Jing Zheng continued to go to Kyoto, while Zhou Jing continued to deal with Xiuchang, or went to Hanoi to support Naoto. However, with the surrender of the Takigawa family, the situation in Hanoi was turned around, and not only did it not need support, but it got a new force at a critical moment. Naturally, the two of them would not let go of this great opportunity, and immediately urged all the troops under their command to launch a fierce attack on the Yuliang family who was in chaos.

This massive blow, as if it was boiling water melting snow, immediately knocked the Yuliang family's army completely collapsed. Yura Hidenaga's direct subordinate has been fighting fiercely for a long time, and at this time he bore the brunt of the battle, almost completely annihilated; Seeing that the situation was not good, the cavalry immediately retreated quickly to the location of the main camp, escorting the main general to cross the Kizu River, a tributary of the Yodo River, and flee to Fushimi Castle, ten kilometers to the northeast.

……，……

This battle of Yodogawa basically decided the ownership of Kinai. Before the dust settled, Hosokawa Tadashi of Katyuji Castle had already led his troops to surrender and handed over his sixteen-year-old brother, Hosokawa Komoto, who inherited the Kamiwazumi Hosokawa family, as a hostage (Tadako himself succeeded Hosokawa Terutsune and inherited the Hosokawa Oshu family). Zhihu thought about it for a while, and made the next deployment. She ordered the Wakasa of the Takigawa family and the Tango of the Hosokawa family to march into Kyoto, and appointed Takigawa Kazuki in my name as the representative of the Kyoto office, and used his prestige to maintain law and order; Ordered the Jingzheng Department to go straight to Fushimi Castle and surrounded Hidecho and the families of the Yura family in the city; ordered Zhou Jing to march towards Quanzhou City, and joined forces with Xiuxingli in the city to monitor the Vietnamese people in Zuo Zuo's administration; She and her family went to Hanoi to join the Yamato people of Tsutsui Shunkei and pacify the country and the Ikoma of Shinki Mountain Castle.

She first went to Takaya Castle and showed Hatakeyama Masasho the captured Hidecho Horse Seal. Hatakeyama Masashi was defeated at the hands of Naotora, and although he took advantage of her evacuation to gather the fleeing army, he only gathered about 2,000 men, and his morale was extremely low. The only thing he can count on is Xiuchang, who is the general of the Hokuriku, and now he sees Zhihu returning to Hanoi, and Xiuchang has even captured the horse seal, so he can only surrender the city and try to keep the family name and family business that he has finally recovered.

With the Ikoma family as the head of the Ikoma family, and Hatakeyama Masasho, who was the former guardian of Minami Hanoi, and faced with the more than 20,000 troops of Naotora and Tsutsui Shunkei, the Ikoma family samurai and the people of Minami Kawachi in the hands of Ikoma were very shaken and fled from the position of Shinguiyama.

At this point, the rule of the Yura family in Kinai basically collapsed. Not only did he lose control of Kyoto, but he also had only about 3,000 troops left in Fushimi Castle, which was the residence of the city, and it was impossible to do anything; The South Omi and North Omi are still complete, but the military strength has been taken to Harima Country by Jingxiu; Although Sasa Chengzheng still has an army of more than 10,000 people, he has no master in advance and retreat, and there is no supply or foundation, like duckweed floating in the autumn wind.

On June 16, I led the Madians to Quanzhou and joined up with more than 40,000 troops of Kii, Izumi, Hanoi, Ise, and Yamato, who had regained control of the port of Quanzhou. Subsequently, I raised the pure white banner used by Genji in the past in the army in place of the Akatsuki Golden Horse Seal given to Shinkage.

Since the death of Minamoto Minamoto, the third shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, the pure white military flag representing the pillars of the Minamoto samurai family has not appeared for more than 460 years; During the first nine years of the battle, the expedition to Oshu established the status of the Genji family in Kawachi, and the prestige that swept the whole world at the time of the Genpei War, has become a historical remnant. Now that this banner has suddenly appeared in this formation, the glory, honor and history it represents have been resurrected, and the morale of the entire army has reached its peak at once. All the samurai in the army, whether they were from the Genji or Taira clans, rejoiced and even moved to tears.

"I really didn't expect to be able to see this flag in my lifetime!"

"This is the grand event of my martial arts!"

Even Zhihu, who has always been very calm, is immersed in this atmosphere. She is my side room, following me for nearly twenty years, watching me grow from a small 20,000 stone lord to a martial arts leader who controls more than twenty countries, excitement and emotion are naturally inevitable.

"It's not easy to get to this point," she said to me beside her, "but seeing this magnificent scene created by your own hands, Your Highness has no regrets!" ”

I didn't answer, but smiled slightly. However, as the owner of this military flag, I actually didn't feel much, and I didn't have the high spirits that everyone expected. Maybe it's because I'm not from this era or this country after all, or maybe these are not my pursuits, but just doing my duty to my family and retainers.

As for regrets...... I think of the deceased Nana, Yujin and Jingzhong, and the irritated Natsu.

The deceased is gone, and there is nothing left to care about; Xiao Xia's affairs are very troublesome, I don't know if she can recover, and how to face the reality after recovery. She has followed me all these years, although she has an extraordinary degree and a high status, but I know very well that these are not her pursuits, and she has accumulated a lot of regrets. Until the past year or two, I spent most of my time with her, which was considered to have fulfilled her wishes, but something happened to Jing Zhong......

Zhou Jing, who was in charge of specific military affairs, suddenly came to report, breaking my thoughts:

"Father, Sasa Mutsu Omoru has been subdued. However, Chiyomaru Matsu, who was a member of Mutsu Mamoru and remained in Echichu, was unable to pay enough hostages; In addition, Mutsu Omomoru's son-in-law Katsuyuki Sakuma and daughter Teru are both in Fushimi Castle, and he asks the family to think about the safety of the two! ”

"That's fine." I nodded.

"Then Kinai is almost peaceful...... What a gratifying congratulations! Ikoma's parents said, and bowed down with several high-ranking generals in the main tent, "Congratulations to Taichang Gong!" ”ro！ ~！