Although we have been planning this decisive battle for a long time, Hideyoshi also had to meet it headlong because of the situation, and competed with us for time. To this end, he sent Ikeda Tsuneko, not only to prevent our side from blocking the plain passage where Hanakuma Castle is located, but also to prepare for the upcoming decisive battle. The key to this preparation was obviously the Kosan position, and even the Takarazuka and Incheondae where Ikeda Tsuneko was located on the left flank, and the Buksan and Koyangen on the right Tokugawa Ieyasu were also chosen to have this mystery. If our side rashly attacks, even if we make some breakthroughs, we will either face the height of the Jiashan position, or we will walk into the valleys on both sides of the Jiashan Mountain, and suffer from the condescending attack of the main formation and a certain wing.

However, we will not let him get his wish. As the conch of the formation sounded again, our vanguard began to attack according to the flag order. At the head of the queue was the 1,500 Iron Artillery Corps under the command of Tsubunai Rita; This was followed by the 3,500 pikemen, with Wasuka Keikatsu as the main general, commanding in front of the formation, Miyata Miyata Koji and Jodo Kazuki as lieutenants, respectively on the two flanks; Then there was the 2,000 cavalry army that served as the main formation, led by Shimazu Ihisa and Ii Nobunao 1,000 men each.

The 7,000 troops lined up in a neat line, slowly pressing towards Jiashan like a forest. Feeling this coercion, the enemy army under Jiashan immediately stirred, and several mother-clothed Pegasus galloped towards the main formation halfway up the mountain, and then quickly returned to the front of the formation, shouting a reserve of about 1,000 people to march forward.

"It's Naokaka Nomura, the lord of Yokoyama Castle in Kita-Omi" Shigeharu Takenaka behind him quickly identified the banner, "He is the iron cannon head of the Yura family, leading the North Omi Kunyu 20,000 stones, and the iron cannon team under his command is extremely elite"

I nodded slightly. I have some impressions of this person. When Nobunaga attacked Kita-Omi that year, he and Mitamura Kunisei and Onoki Hidetoshi jointly defended Yokoyama Castle, and with 200 iron cannons under his command, he resisted several attacks by the Mino trio before the next battle of Ogawa. Afterwards, he surrendered the castle and was subordinate to Hideyoshi, who was guarding Yokoyama Castle, and could be described as a senior retainer of the Yura family.

However, no matter how elite his reserve is, if he has to fight hard against the iron artillery army under my command, it is still a lot worse. With the scale of his territory, the reserve of his army is at most about 1,000 people, and even if he has the support of the main family and equips all these 1,000 people with the iron cannon of the country, the combat effectiveness cannot be compared to the iron artillery team of his own side.

In this era, when the two sides fight, they are usually composed of the reserve of each wealthy clan to join the battle, the commander is the retainers of each wealthy clan, and the battle formation is basically regarded as the basic unit, and there is rarely a large-scale single arm combination, even in a war as large as today, with more than 200,000 troops participating in the battle. The reason why I have mixed several reserve teams is because they all adopt the same arrangement and training methods, and the commander is also appointed by the family, so they can cooperate with each other. If it is replaced by a few wealthy clan reserve units that are rashly mixed, they will only lose most of their combat effectiveness due to inconsistent military orders and chaotic leadership. And I dared to meet the opponent's vanguard of nearly 30,000 men with a force of 7,000 troops, in addition to the amazing combat effectiveness of my own reserves, but also because of the inherent weakness of this military system.

The ensuing situation quickly validated my judgment. Nomura Naotaka's reserve, which had 600 iron cannons and 300 spears, advanced to the front of the formation and fired at us with iron artillery. However, under the three-stage attack method of our flintlock iron artillery, Nomura's reserve soon suffered great losses and had to retreat to rest.

Jing Xiu on the mountainside saw that the situation was not good, and soon sent the mother clothes to convey the next order. Immediately afterwards, the four reserve teams marched to the front of the formation and launched an attack on our side with a fish scale formation that marched in unison. At the forefront of each reserve, each of them held a bamboo shield to cover the spears in the back. This move obviously had an effect, and although people fell under the iron cannon from time to time, Ashigaru immediately stepped forward to take the bamboo bundle and maintained the entire defensive line, thus greatly reducing the casualties of his own side. Seeing this, Shimazu Iehisa and Ii Nobu immediately ordered the iron artillery team to retreat along the passage left in advance, and then dispatched the second position of the pikemen.

The spear arrays of the two sides engaged, and the situation fell into a stalemate for a while. Although the combat strength of this side is superior to that of the opponent, the opponent's array is composed of four reserves, each of which is divided into several columns, and has a very complete depth, which is not easy to break.

At this time, the two wings of both sides were dispatched. Zhou Keibu and Ikeda Hengxing Division, Hidekeibu and Tokugawa Ieyasu Division, also started their respective matches. Under the orders of their respective generals, the two sides rushed to the battlefield in the middle with a roar, and then collided violently, bursting out with shouts in the sky, and a few screams were sandwiched between them, which were faintly audible even in the main formation of the Chinese army.

"The herald is to retreat slowly! The Chinese army began to move: "I gave the order loudly.

The order was quickly conveyed, and the cavalry of the main formation, the withdrawn iron artillery army, and the opposing pikemen retreated in turnSeeing this situation, the four reserve units of the other side immediately increased their morale, and tightly wrapped themselves around the retreating queue, and the three of them shouted loudly, trying their best to maintain the integrity of the battle line. At this time, the gap in quality between the two sides became apparent. Although the side was retreating, the battle line remained very intact, but the four reserve teams of the other side, due to problems in coordination, the ashigaru between the joints tried their best to move closer to the middle of the side, gradually revealing a gap several meters wide. Wasuka Keikatsu made a quick decision, causing his troops to suddenly launch a counterattack, and at the same time rushed towards the gap between the other side and the guards around him.

At the same time, Shimazu Iehisa and Ii Nobunao of the cavalry main camp also saw the advantage, and immediately led their own direct 1,000 cavalry troops to bypass the spear array and attack the opponent from the side. The opposing flanks were also covered by a small number of cavalry, but in front of their elite cavalry, these cavalry quickly retreated, and they could only watch as they broke through into their own flanks.

"This kid is reacting well," I smiled and turned back, complimenting Wasuka Masakatsu behind me. Wasuka Masakatsu also smiled, but his eyes were still looking at the movement of the front: "Although he has the upper hand, I hope he won't be stupid enough to rush up the mountain."

On the mountain is Jingxiu's main formation, and there are nearly 20,000 troops. If Shimazu Iehisa, Ii Nobunao, Wasuka Keikatsu and others were greedy for merit and followed the defeated enemy army to attack upward, I am afraid that they would not be able to fall into any cheapness.

Fortunately, they were all sensible people, defeated the four reserves in front of them, and immediately took the opportunity to retreat according to the order, and handed over the position to the Chikuzen people of the Chinese army.

Chikuzen Province is the domain of the Wasuka family and Satake Nobuhide, and since Wasuka Masakatsu served as the military chief of the Honjin and Wasuka Keikatsu served as the chief general of the Lancer Army in the vanguard, the people of this country are currently led by Satake Nobuhide alone. And I asked the people to go up, thinking about holding the front first and waiting for the progress on both wings. Anyway, even if our side breaks through Yura Keihide's advance now, it will not be possible to attack Hideyoshi's main position at Kozan.

When Chikuzen took over the position, the elite directly under the vanguard was liberated. I asked Honda to personally rush to the front line and give them the next order. As a result, this elite army was divided into three, and Wasuka Keikatsu led a team of 500 spearmen to join the camp of Chikuzen Kunizhong, and served as the main general together with Satake Nobuhide; Ii Nobunao and Miyata Koji led 2,000 cavalry and 1,500 pikemen to join Xiujing's left flank, waiting for an opportunity to attack from the flank; The remaining 1,500 pikemen were led by Kazuki Shiroto and 1,500 iron artillery under Shimazu Iehisa, waiting for an opportunity to attack the flank of Ikeda's Hengxing Division.

Such an arrangement is mainly aimed at the posture of Hideyoshi. Didn't he want to trap us on both sides of the Jiashan position, and then send out his own formation to cooperate with the two flanks to attack? Then I will lay these two chess pieces, on the one hand, to guard against his own formation, and on the other hand, to wait for an opportunity to attack his wings.

Shigeharu Takenaka clearly understood what I was thinking. He carefully observed the flanks of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ikeda Tsuneko, and shook his head slightly: "This little strength seems to be weaker...... Why don't you transfer some of the Hizen people of the Chinese army to cooperate with them? ”

"No" Bee Feng He Zhengsheng immediately retorted: "The Chinese army only has the people of the two countries of Chikuzen and Hizen, and if they are transferred out, I am afraid it will be too weak,"

"So how about only strengthening one side?" Shigeharu Takenaka also advised, "You only need to defeat either wing, and the opponent will not be able to recover the defeat." You don't have to do it both ways. ”

"Not bad," I nodded, agreeing with Shigeharu Takenaka; "The proposal for re-treatment is feasible"

"So which side should be strengthened?" Xinjing hurriedly asked.

"Let's take a look at it again." I cast my eyes on the wings again, and my mind quickly weighed up.

The battle on both flanks was also very fierce. In terms of military strength, the left flank of our side is the three kingdoms of Nakyushu and Iyo, and the right flank is the four countries of Ise, Yamato, Kii, and Izumi, with a strength of more than 45,000 people; The main forces they faced were Tokugawa Ieyasu's Mikawa, Enoe, and Suruga powers, as well as Mino and Settsu led by Ikeda Tsuneko, plus some supplementary troops, the strength was about 30,000, and the remaining 50,000 troops, including the vanguard of Yura Hidekei, were arranged in the Chinese army. This is the opposite of ours, and it is clear that Hideyoshi wants to control the situation in his own hands, or to cooperate with a flank attack, or to gain an advantage in the middle, and then attack my own camp directly.

From the perspective of combat power, the left wing is the battle-hardened Hidejing, Otomo Yoshitomi, Maeda Toshiie, Sawaki Yoshiyuki, Takahashi Shaoyun, and young generals like Tachibana Soshige, Zhou Jing and Naohu on the right flank, who are more good at strategy, and Keimasa is also very ghostly; The Tokugawa family on the other side has been at war with Takeda for many years, and both experience and combat power are very impressive, and Ieyasu himself is even better at strategy, but Ikeda Hengxing's side is relatively much worse, not only are there no outstanding generals, but the current Mino and Settsu are in turmoil, and there will inevitably be some problems in the military spirit.

Although I can't see anything yet, if I wait a little longer, there will definitely be some decline on Ikeda's side!

It's just that will Hideyoshi send troops to support the two wings? If you want support, which side do you choose? Will he join forces with the Tokugawa family to attack Xiujing, or will he help Ikeda Hengxing resist Zhoujing?

Two samurai dressed in their mother's clothes and carrying two flags galloped up to the camp. They were envoys of Xiujing and Zhou Jing, who had come to report the situation to me as usual, and to receive my next tactical arrangement.

"How's it going? Is it certain that you can defeat the Tokugawa family? ,、Xinjing first asked Xiujing's envoy.

I also looked at the envoy. Although the battle situation can also be seen here, the details are naturally not as clear as those on the front line.

The envoy took a few sips of water from the wooden spoon in the hands of the attendants of the main camp, and half-knelt down under the watchtower: "Report to the two main halls, the head of the family said that the situation is fine, but the morale of the Tokugawa family is high and the resistance is very resolute, so I am afraid it will be difficult to make much progress in a short time." ”

"Is that so?" Xinjing shook his head, "It's weird! This is not their war, why work so hard? ”

"It's for the sake of their own future," Wasuka Masakatsu owed, "then, even if this war is lost, they will show their strength, so that they will be respected and valued by us, and they will not dare to push them too much." ”

"This is the wisdom of His Royal Highness Zuofu," Shigeharu Takenaka smiled slightly, "Back then, in the Mino Kingdom, the victorious Kawanami and the Takenaka family under his subordinates were all recognized by the Saito family and obtained the territory of Andu. ”

"That's the thing!" I couldn't help laughing, and I also remembered those days: "However, at that time, the Kawanami and Takenaka families were only wealthy families with less than ten thousand stones, and they were not prominent among the many wealthy families in the Mino Kingdom, so it didn't hurt to let them go." However, the Tokugawa family today controls Suruga, Toe, Mikawa and part of Minami Shinano, and the territory is close to one million koku! Moreover, Ieyasu is extremely capable and very good at forbearance, I can't allow him to maintain such a big power! ”

"The main hall is wise," Shigeharu Takenaka smiled and lowered his head, "Your Majesty thinks so too. ”

"You go back and tell His Highness Jingzhao that he maintains the battle line and doesn't have to push the other side too much, so as not to suffer too many casualties," I ordered.

As long as Hideyoshi is defeated, Tokugawa Ieyasu will naturally be subdued, and he will definitely be able to accept similar conditions.

"Obey the order" made Fan bow his head and quickly get on his horse and leave.

"What about you?" I turned to the other envoy, "How is the situation of Jingo and Tiger Gozen?" Any suggestions? ”

"Report to the Great Hall! The head of the family and His Royal Highness Mamoru Ise have already passed the strategy to plot against the ...... of Settsu Nakagawa Kiyohide and Takayama Shigetomo, and the other party replied with an arrow book that he is willing to obey the imperial court and the main hall at the right time, and crusade against the enemy under the command of the main hall"! ~！