"My lord, it seems that the Takeda army has begun to withdraw, aren't they afraid of our army following and pursuing?"

The Uesugi Army's main formation, under the banner of the Ranlong Banner and Bizi fluttering in the wind, as the deputy general of the Echigo Army, Naoe Minorutsuna, looked at the Takeda Army that was slowly entering the Shirane Mountain Pass, and suggested to Uesugi Kenshin.

Uesugi Kenshin was still dressed in plain white monk's robes, holding a string of prayer beads in his left hand and a military ration wrapped in iron in his right hand. At the moment, he was sitting on the Maza, observing the movement of the Takeda army in front, and then Uesugi Kenshin pointed to the small hillside where the Takeda army's main formation was located, and said to Naoe Minorutsuna: "The Takeda army has arranged enough palace troops on that hillside, so it dares to retreat calmly in front of our army's lineup. ”

"Takeda Shingen himself hesitated to enter the army this time, and he lost his standard, which is really disappointing." Minoru Naoe spoke out the question in his mind, he didn't know that Takeda Shingen was not in command in the army.

Uesugi Kenshin didn't speak, and suddenly asked Minoru Naoe, "Who is the enemy general who is the queen of the palace?" ”

Minoru Naoe immediately ordered his subordinates to go down the mountain to check, and his subordinates returned to the main camp and reported: "The flag seal above the main camp of the Takeda Army is written on it as 'Suwa Nangong Upper and Lower Great Myojin'. ”

"Oh, this is not the flag mark of Takeda Shingen himself, 'Suwa Law surname Sanskrit flag'." Minoru Naoe said suddenly.

Uesugi Kenshin smiled and said, "As the chief general, Shingenko himself will never put himself to death, I think it must be the Shinano Suwa family, since the death of Suwa Yorishige, their current head of the family should be Suwa Manchu." ”

Minoru Naoe smiled and said, "My lord, you have a lot of opportunities, so you don't know that the Tiger of Kai has already arranged for his fourth son, Takeda Katsuyori, to inherit the family business of the Suwa family. At the moment, I am afraid that the one who leads the army in front of the battle is Shiro Katsuyori. ”

Uesugi Kenshin showed a look of surprise on his face, obviously very surprised, and said with a flash in his tiger eyes: "I didn't expect that Xin Xuangong actually gave birth to such a tiger, I admire this person's courage very much, rare, rare." ”

In front of the Takeda army's formation, the small score group accompanying the army was digging two trenches in front of the arrow barrier at the front of the formation.

After the arrow barrier, the archbow light team, the iron cannon group, the long-handled spear foot light team, and the horse team lined up the hillside one by one, and surrounded Takeda Katsuyori's main camp in a semicircle. In the main formation of the array, there are flags holding the flag seal, the general team, as well as the Taigu Conch Group that controls the advance and retreat of the army, the military supervisor, the eye, the regulator, the pharmacist, the monk and so on.

In the middle of the main formation, there are two flag seals, the Sanskrit flag with the surname Suwa and the Kajiba flag painted with the Suwa family crest.

In addition to the meaning of being a general, in the military system, it means that you can lead an army to fight and have the ability to take on one side alone.

In the Takeda Army, the general generally commanded a force of 300 to 800 people, in addition to guns, bows, and iron cannons, the troops were also equipped with horse teams and small lotus teams, which could read and fight, and such a formation was also called 'Bei', or 'Legion' (the name of the formation that is so domineering).

Among them, the famous 'Akabi' of Iitomi Torama, the 'Kohata Akabi' of Kohata Kenshige, and the five-color preparation of the Hojo family are all prepared in units.

As the queen of the palace, the Takeda Katsuyori reserve team that covered the retreat of the team had a total of 800 troops, and the rest of the unrelated combatants left with the army. Li Xiao glanced at Yumi Kohata, who was dressed in armor, and she was reluctantly watching her sister and younger brother Sadako Kohata, Yuwakamaru retreated towards Mt. Shirane with the tide of Takeda's soldiers.

"Yamamoto-sama, why don't you leave?" Li Xiao turned around and asked Kansuke Yamamoto beside him.

Yamamoto Kansuke held the scabbard of his sword, limped in the direction of Mt. Shirane, and said: "This strategy of the Imperial Palace's army was suggested by me Yamamoto Kansuke, and it should be up to me to bear the responsibility for this strategy, not to mention that the lord is here, as a retainer, how can I abandon him and go first?" ”

Li Xiao nodded and said, "It is my Li Xiao's honor to be able to fight here side by side with Lord Yamamoto. ”

Yamamoto Kansuke's rough face showed a rare smile, his hands were supported by the scabbards, and he pointed to the main camp of the Echigo army from afar, and said, "Do you know? To be able to play against Shinano Ueno for more than ten years with such a famous player as Uesugi Teruto, this is the honor of my Yamamoto Kansuke's life. Lord Li Xiao, if I unfortunately die here in this battle, please continue to assist Lord Xinxuan, rely on His Highness, and fulfill my unfinished wishes. ”

"Yamamoto-sama."

Li Xiao hesitated for a moment, and finally swallowed what he was about to say back into his stomach.

In a similar way, Takeda Nobushihiro also said this to himself during the battle of Kawanakajima, perhaps in the hearts of Kansuke Yamamoto and Takeda Nobuyoshige, they both regarded themselves as capable ministers who could assist the Takeda family to dominate Samoto.

At present, in the main formation of the Takeda Army, Yamamoto Kansuke, Li Xiao, Hoshina Masatoshi, Hoshina Masanaka, Hoshina Masatsuki, Suwa Yoritada, Suwa Yoritoyo, and Sanada Yukimasa are all wearing heavy armor, except for Suwa Manchu who stayed in Suwa Prefecture, and Nishimura Heizo who stayed in Takato Castle, the retainers under Takeda Katsuyori gathered here.

And Takeda Katsuyori himself, wearing a deer antler helmet, wearing gorgeous red silk armor, and a five-colored bird feather weave as an embellishment, is very dazzling, as if he wants to tell others that I am Takeda Katsuyori, the general of the Imperial Army, and those who have the ability to come and take my head.

Just like the tradition of the samurai of this era, everyone who goes to the battlefield must have the consciousness of going to death and being cut off by someone, so before hanging, wearing the most decent armor can be regarded as a perfect end to his samurai career.

Boom! Boom!

The drums in the enemy formation at the foot of the mountain sounded, and the enemy began to attack.

Armed with spears in hand, they lined up in a dense line, and the envoys of the Uesugi army galloped between the teams and issued orders. Rushing to the front, the miscellaneous soldiers of the local wealthy clan in Ueno, Uesugi Kenshin obviously wanted to use these pioneers to test the combat power of the Takeda army.

On the side of the Takeda Army, the Xiaopu Invitation Group had already dug the trenches, and the iron artillery team composed of nearly 100 people quickly jumped into the two trenches, raising their guns one after another to aim at the Hao soldiers who were slowly advancing.

"Shoot."

The first line of trench artillery opened fire, and a row of iron cannon muzzles erupted flames, and the loud sound of iron cannon fire echoed in the mountains, and with the firing of the projectiles, a thick smoke filled the muzzle of the guns, which was immediately dispersed by the mountain wind.

After a shot, the gunners crouched in the trenches, turned their guns upwards, first cleaned the gunpowder residue from the chamber with a ram, then filled with gunpowder and pellets, then compacted the projectiles and gunpowder with an oak ram, and finally inserted the ignited fire rope into the fire hole.

Shocked by the first column of the Takeda family's iron artillery team, seeing the nearby companions being killed by the invisible projectile, and the loud noise, the soldiers of the Ueno Hao clan, who had never seen such a big battle, were suddenly in chaos.

Immediately, the iron cannons of the second column of trenches opened fire again, and the roaring sound and the dead corpses completely broke the courage of the miscellaneous soldiers of the Ueno Hao clan.

Just two volleys of iron cannons, the army of the Ueno nobles who were the first in the formation fell into complete confusion, and many ashigaru abandoned their spears and fled in all directions.

This scene made Li Xiao, who was on the hillside, feel a little ridiculous.