It was the scorching heat of August, and a bloody battle was unfolding on the plain between the Tone River and the Torigawa River, and Nagao Keitora led more than 2,000 people of the Banner Hao clan as the main formation to personally press the formation, on his left and right sides was the Etsu reserve of the Kira family, wearing black concrete Honjo Prosperous Long Formation, more than half of the more than 2,000 Etsu reserve troops were horseback teams, and the other half were spear and shield teams, and the black carcasses of all colors reflected a dark and deep light in the sunlight.

"The Yasuda team was defeated for a while, and they begged for Ida Shosuke!"

"The Ayukawa team was defeated for a while, and they killed Takashiro Jiro Zubei!"

The Edo people were hit by an unprecedented huge impact, and more than 5,000 people were defeated and retreated by the 1,000 troops of the Nagao Army, and they almost couldn't even get their feet on their feet.

Toyama Tsunakyo is of course worried about this possibility, a few years ago in the astronomical rebellion, Kawagoe Castle Lord Daido Temple Morisho died by burning the castle tower, and he abandoned the castle in Edo Castle and fled, although Hojo Shiyasu was not blamed afterwards, but it was inevitable to be pointed and poked in the back, especially his son-in-law Daiji Masashiro expressed dissatisfaction with himself, which made him very worried.

"Bastard! What a tactic this is! "Toyama Tsunakyo has never seen such a strange tactic, the Ashigaru team scattered and rushed over like a random impact, but it was a very layered wave of attacks, disrupting the formation of the Ashigaru team of the receiving side, the impatient samurai charged forward, the timid Ashigaru retreated backwards, and the entire formation was uneven like a wave roll, and was seized by the long-tail army to attack one after another.

Unable to bear it anymore, Toyama Tsunakyo decided to send a cavalry of 1,000 cavalry to try to outflank the arrogant Ashigaru of the Nagao Army from both flanks, and he had already found that the cavalry of the two reserves was only about 300 horsemen, which was a good sign.

Standing in front of the formation and inspecting the movement ahead, the long-tailed Jinghu immediately understood this crisis. Snorted coldly and said, "The Hojo Army is nothing more than that!" Attack with me and crush the enemy! ”

When the conch of the longtail family blows. Rushing to the front was a thousand cavalry led by Saito Asanobu. His mount was a mighty and sturdy black Michinoku horse, which was neighing and slowly speeding up, and the cool wind was faintly accompanied by fierce shouts of killing.

Behind Saito Asanobu, all the samurai on horseback gradually accelerated their riding speed, as the vanguard of the main camp was robbed of the vanguard has made him hold back for a long time, and the thousand sons under his command are energetic and speed up the pace of their mounts, and the rumbling hooves of the horses sounded loudly, looking at the posture to give the Edo people a frontal impact.

"Be careful! That's the cavalry of the Long Tail Army! ”

The general who led the cavalry was the son of Toyama Tsunaki, and the twenty-four-year-old Toyama Hayato Sayasukei heard the warning of his retainers and spotted the long-tailed cavalry team rushing towards him. They wore black carcasses with the Jiuyao Ba family crest flag fluttering behind them, and a white dragon flag that they didn't know very well, and as the speed of the long-tailed cavalry became faster and faster, the hunting sound blowing in the wind on the other side.

Countless black cavalry turned into a surging black tide and frantically rushed towards this side, and the face of Yuanshan Kangjing changed, and he shouted: "Follow me left and right to block the long-tail army, and we must not let them charge into battle!" Be sure to beat them and make a name for my Hojo family! ”

"Hah!" Fifteen hundred Hojo horseback warriors moved, as if a giant beast was slowly stretching its arms, and the navy blue armor was like a cyan wall under the Hojo triscals to block the path of the long-tail army, and their posture was still accelerating. It seems that the intention is to collide head-on with the Longtail Army.

Seeing this, Saito Asanobu laughed and said, "What guts! Boys! Hojo has the audacity to charge in front of us, are you afraid? ”

"I don't know what to fear!" The horseback warriors of the Nagao family roared in unison.

"Then follow me and kill them!" Saito waved his whip at Shin. Increase your speed by a big step and take the lead in the front of the team.

"It's a contest of wills! Zhao Hao said: Its road is far and narrow, for example, two rats fight in the hole, and the brave will win. "Nagao Keitora deliberately slowed down to give the samurai a chance to show their martial prowess, there are no cowards in the Nagao family, there are no cowards, and the samurai of Echigo are born warriors who spill blood on the battlefield, which is destined by the gods and Buddhas, and he has never had any doubts about this.

"It's closer...... the cavalry on both sides rushed faster and faster, and the distance was getting closer and closer, looking at the long-tailed cavalry shining with black light in the distance, most of the courage of the distant mountain Kangjing was unloaded at once, and he barely turned back to look at the horseback warriors on his side, one by one nervously clenched the reins, and his face was as pale as paper.

“…… It's closer! "Yasukei Yuanshan has never seen the scene of cavalry hedging, and since he was a child, he has lived under the protection of his father, the support of his retainers, and the trust of his lord, like a flower thriving in a greenhouse, always fantasizing that one day he will become a peerless warrior like Rehmannia Hachiman.

In the past few years, he has followed the Edo people several times to hide in the rear to play soy sauce, and after the situation is clear, he has come to pick peaches and mixed a lot of achievements, thinking that the younger generation of the Hojo family is also the number one person, and finally won the position of horseback riding general from the Hojo clan, and he decided to show his skills to realize his dream of becoming a famous general.

It wasn't until this moment that he realized how wrong he was, he never had the courage to give up his life and forget death, he was still young and only twenty-four years old this year, he had not yet married and married for the Toyama family to inherit the lineage, he still had a great future waiting for him to do, he could be an excellent minister in Edo Castle, he could take over as the lord of the castle smoothly, and he would marry the princess of the Hojo family as a public ......

"So I can't die here! Absolutely not! Yuanshan Yasujing shouted timidly: "Spread out to the left and right to outflank the flanks of the Long Tail Army!" ”

"Yes!" Fifteen hundred cavalry divided their forces to the left and right as if they had been amnestied, and when the distance between the two sides was less than thirty meters, he suddenly scattered two unrelated cavalry teams in the city, trying to avoid the frontal attack of the long-tailed cavalry by this means, but he made another fatal mistake.

Saito Asanobu saw that the enemy army was about to divide his troops, and then he was furious: "I still want to hide!" I'm thinking about you wrong! Follow me and rush over to defeat the Hojo Army! ”

The 1,500 cavalry team had just separated halfway through when they found that the long-tailed cavalry had rushed within ten meters, and the mounted samurai who were still separating turned over in fright and fled, and the chaos of several mounted samurai caused a great chaos in the entire cavalry team. Several of the fried horses crashed into each other and fell to the ground. The result was a catastrophic collision. Dozens of samurai on horseback fell into the city, and the horses stumbled and trampled on the fallen samurai and let out a terrible scream.

"Kill!" Saito Asanobu brandished a large gun and crashed straight into the formation, the moment the two armies collided, the horseback warriors of the Hojo Army were in a mess, launching a charge and running as much as crazy, the horseback warriors standing in front wanted to retreat, the horseback warriors standing behind wanted to move forward, and the horseback warriors huddled together ushered in a burst of snowy white light.

For a moment, the mournful wails and the neighing of the war horses mingled. The bright red blood drifted around with the dull sound of cutting the armor, and the war horse of Echigo could not withstand the direct impact, and Yin Hong's blood spurted out of his mouth and nose, and the shouts of killing and the terrible howl were mixed together, and the sword light and gun shadows on all sides formed a terrifying and bloody ukiyo-e.

"The brave live, and the cowardly die! Those who kill the enemy will be rewarded, and those who retreat will be killed! After reading the sixteen-character mantra, Honjo shouted: "Listen to my orders, target the Hojo cavalry fleeing on both wings, charge!" ”

"This kid is getting more and more fond of chewing words!" Hojo Takahiro laughed and scolded and urged the war horse with Kurokawa Kiyomi. The commander cavalry hurried up, and Kurokawa Kiyomi served as the commander of the ashigaru team. I could only watch the cavalry rush out, and sighed: "Why am I so unlucky, I have to catch the red note, is it because I secretly drank the sake offered to the gods and Buddhas at home?" ”

The same black-armored cavalry, the difference is that the body is more comprehensive and more powerful than the carcass pill protection, and the difference is that the flag fingers are exchanged for Ashikaga two lead two, and the cavalry of the Kira Legion Yue Reserve takes a brisk step to outflank the left and right flanks, where there will be a sumptuous soup waiting for them to taste.

Whether it is from the physical reserves of the war horses or the difference in the speed of the charged charge, the Edo cavalry has lost the basis for competing with the Kira army's cavalry team, and the tail that will have time to separate the left and right in the future is easily cut off by the long-tail army, and the relentless Saito Asanobu is still unwilling to give up the opportunity to take advantage of the victory to pursue, and the middle of the two cavalry is bitten to the death and is unable to struggle.

At this time, Honjo Fancho and Hojo Takahiro divided into two sections from the left and right to outflank the desperately turning Hojo Army, these lucky people who escaped had already been frightened, and ran back crazy under the leadership of Yasukei Toyama, but the charge of the war horse was inertia, and it took a break from facing the northern Nagao Army to launch a hedge, to outflanking to the northeast and then turning around to fleeing to the south.

It was precisely the current situation that did not allow him to take such a long detour, and in a short period of time, the cavalry team of Honjo and Hojo Takahiro rushed in front of them, and when the distant mountain Yasukei saw clearly that there was another large group of black-armored cavalry from the north, he was almost frightened and almost fainted on the spot, and the samurai who had lost his courage could no longer muster the courage to face the huge cavalry charge, not to mention that the enemy's mounted samurai seemed to be more elite and stronger.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! It's too late, bastard! "Yasukei Toyama beat his mount desperately, his legs tightly clamped the horse's belly, and the whole person lay on the horse, trying to escape, but he could not escape the cavalry charge that was ready to attack, and in the next moment, Honjo Shigencho crashed into the side opponent's own side, the unsuspecting Hojo army.

"Raise your rifle! Charge! Honjo snorted, rushed to the front of the horse samurai raised the big gun, with his shout to slash the Hojo Army, when the big gun into the body, blood and screams came at the same time, skilled samurai know what to cut into the body can quickly pull out the big gun, some masters also master volleys, waist and horizontal slashing and other superb skills.

Honjo Shigeru held a gun in his right hand and killed a Hojo family horse samurai, and his left hand was not idle at all, and he raised his sword to kill the head of another samurai, many Echigo samurai saw the same as they drew their swords and waved their hands to slash indiscriminately, and some simply took out their hammer sticks and greeted the Hojo family's horse samurai when they saw them, and they all smashed them with a hammer.

All of a sudden, the snowy sword continued to cut the head of the loser, and the samurai who subconsciously raised his hand to resist was simply cut off with his arms and head, and the blood burst out on the black armor as if shrouded in a layer of dark red time, and the bloody and filthy aura paved the surface, and the white flag fingers were stained red with blood, and the mane of the mount was slowly flowing with dark red blood.

Yasukei Toyama was bitten by a terrifying samurai on horseback, and he was frantically urging his mount to flee, but this useless mount had exhausted most of his strength in the violent run just now, and even if he whipped the mount with a whip and bloodied, he could not stop the dilemma of running slower and slower.

When he felt a rumbling vibration behind him, he hurriedly turned his head and looked back. I only saw a white light flickering, and the next moment there was a sharp pain. The whole person floated high and saw blood spraying from under his body. Then it was in the dark.

The situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly, and when Hojo Shiyasu commanded Goshibei to press the Minowa people with a huge advantage in troops, the overall situation was very good, and at this moment, a dusty envoy rushed to the front of the battle, shouting: "The cavalry is all destroyed!" Hayato Zo in the distant mountains begs for death! The distant mountain Kai Guardian was seriously wounded, and the Edo people retreated! ”

"What!" Hojo Shiyasu was taken aback, the whole person was shocked by this news, and it was unbelievable that the five thousand elite troops collapsed before they could last for half an hour. His eyes of disbelief looked directly at the envoy, until the envoy repeated this information over and over again, and finally turned into a sigh: "Stop the attack, the whole army will retreat in an orderly manner!" ”

The Hojo Army responded at the first time and resolutely retreated to the surprise of the Nagao retainers, and was forced to abandon the pursuit plan in the face of the Matsuyama Army, the Bowl Formation Group, the Koki Army, the Tamatsu Army, and the Miura People rushing over like wolves and tigers to block the retreating Edo Army.

The war did not last long, and it was only more than half a day before and after the battle was fought, and when the two sides packed up their troops and retreated, the sunset was still so brilliant, and it was easy to fall into a passive situation of being alone and deep in the depths of the army if they were too persistent. Nagao Jinghu immediately ordered the troops to withdraw and boycott the battle, and if he had an army of 20,000, he would definitely bite the Hojo Army.

Count losses after the war. More than 2,500 Edo people were killed in the battle, of which 1,500 cavalry were surrounded and killed by the two cavalry armies of the Long Tail Army, and the elite was wiped out in an instant, and the Edo people lost their strong support, and they were unable to resist the frontal ashigaru assault, and they were successively covered by the Long Tail Cavalry on the flank, and the city was defeated in the blink of an eye.

Toyama Tsunade couldn't withstand the blow of the eldest son's death, and frantically pounced on the Nagao Army and was seriously injured by Saito Asanobu in a single shot, if it weren't for his banner samurai risking his life to desperately snatch it back, Toyama Tsunade would have confessed here today.

Several other groups of Kuniren who rescued the Edo people were also traumatized at different levels, with a total battle loss of more than 3,000, and all the little advantages they had gained from the Nagano family Minowa were all the way back, and the Hojo Army, which retreated all the way, abandoned the branch castles along the road, and let the Nagao Army capture several castles one after another, gradually threatening Kuragano Castle, the front line of the Hojo family.

This war caused nearly 10% of the battle damage to the Hojo family, and the overall strength loss was not large, but the Edo people were definitely going to withdraw to the rear and rebuild, and Toyama Tsunade was deeply damaged and transferred to Odawara Castle to recuperate, and in the blink of an eye, the strength of both sides was again pulled to 30,000 to 25,000, and the battle became more and more difficult.

From the end of the Battle of Tone River to the end of August, the two sides returned to the rhythm of the tentative attack, this time everyone seemed to be extremely patient, Hojo Shiyasu did not try to destroy the city with a large army, and the combined forces of Nagao and Nagano also gave up the fierce onslaught, and the situation evolved into the most common and worst confrontation of the Sengoku period, which meant that there was no better way to deal with the opponent, and they were unwilling to give up their respective strategic goals and stalemate.

Some of this kind of confrontation was a simple stalemate, and some were accompanied by many small competitions, from the offensive and defensive battles of several hundred people to the offensive and defensive exchanges of thousands of people, and the fighting along the Tone River did not stop for more than ten days, until a new change occurred in late August that forced Nagao Jinghu to respond.

"The Shirakura family actually surrendered to the Hojo family, and the Higashiueno Kiryu clan, the Yamagami clan, and the Yura clan switched to the Hojo family?" Nagano Ye was furious, and the bearded man yelled, "Bastard! Why did Michisa Shirakura take refuge in the Hojo family! In vain, I am treating him like a brother! What a bastard! ”

Since the establishment of the Muromachi shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu personally ended the confrontation between the north and the south, but the Kanto region opened a hundred and fifty years of Kanto rebellion, in the endless war and chaos, many famous families fell and many families rose one after another, among which the original indigenous Nitta clan of Ueno Province gradually ended, replaced by several officials of the Yamauchi Uesugi family, who were collectively known as the eight families of Shangshu.

The eight schools in Kamishu are the Kohata clan, the Shirakura clan, the Anaka clan, the Kurakano clan, the Kiryu clan, the Yura clan, the Yamagami clan, and the Numata clan, among which the four families of Kohata, Shirakakura, Anaka, and Kurakano are from Nishi-Ueno, and the four families of Kiryu, Yura, Yamanaka, and Numata are from Higashi-Ueno, and they nominally belong to the Yamauchi Uesugi family, but in fact, the situation is far more complicated than imagined.

In addition, there are four families of Ueno Kuniren who serve as the elders of Yamauchi Uesugi Suku, namely the Nagao clan, the Oishi clan, the Kohata clan, and the Shirakura clan. The Nagano clan, whether it is the eight houses in Shangshu or the four houses in Uesugi, did not wash and row into it. Therefore, Nagano is particularly concerned about the diplomatic relations of these big families.

For example, Numata Aiyasu, who did not rebel this time, is the son-in-law of Nagano Yoshimasa. In addition, Anzhong and Kohata are also Nagano Yemasa's sons-in-law, Kurakano and Shirakura, the two families have a good relationship like brothers, and they are close to the point of undressing and pushing food, but they repay Nagano Yemasa like this at a critical moment, so that this veteran is not angry.

Nagano Yegu pondered for a long time, and suddenly shouted a few times: "I guess this must be Hojo Shiyasu borrowing the name of Furukawa Gongfang to make a strategy!" Higashi-Ueno has always been close to the Furukawa Gongkata Hall, and as long as the current Furukawa Hall stands in the camp of the Hojo family, they can't escape the influence of the Hojo family! ”

"The current Furukawaden is just a puppet of the Hojo family! When the Qing clan was alive. Didn't Hojo also use this method to control? It's a good way to marry a daughter and pull a son-in-law! Nobutaha pursed his lips, not realizing that there was anything enviable about the Hojo family.

Wada Yefan's interest was also aroused, and he said with a smile: "Since the marriage between the current Furukawa Hall and the Hojo family, most of the Kanto people have severed contact with the Furukawa Gongfang, and in my Yegu's opinion, this Furukawa Hall is most likely to be pulled on the boat and unable to come down. ”

"That Guhe Hall cut off his arm and didn't mention it!" Nagano Kentada snorted coldly, suddenly stood up and shouted, "Their betrayal must not be tolerated!" Out of the line! Defeat them! Let them taste betrayal! ”

Looking at everyone with a look of disbelief, Nagano Kentada smiled silently, moving from his home stable bridge castle to Minowa Castle, belonging to the members tied to the big ship of the Nagao family. The attitude has also changed from the original Hexi mud to extremely tough: "Now only Kohata, Anchu, and Numata of the eight families in Shangshu insist on resisting, and two of these three are powerful samurai of the Minowa people. The other is also the son-in-law of Shinano Shouden, so it can be seen that the Hojo family is not extinguished! Then I, Xianzhong, have to ask you, what are I waiting for the Yuki Lang Party for? ”

"Defend the family!"

"Defend your home and land!"

The samurai's uneven answers were unsatisfactory, and Nagano Kentada didn't care about their performance, and continued, "We are here to besiege the clan and defend the power of our and other Ueno people!" We are the direct ministers of the Uesugi family, not the retainers of the Hojo family, and it is absolutely impossible for the Hojo family to replace the Uesugi family and submit to us! That's why we're here today to discuss the plan to defeat Hojo! So, let's brainstorm to deal with this group of betrayers! ”

"So I'll start with that!" Seeing that the situation was not good, Anzhong Echizen Shouzhongzheng took the first step and said: "I have a proposal, it is not easy to hold the western four counties with our strength, only please ask the main hall to help!" ”

Kohata Kenshige was the first to raise his arm and said, "Seconded below!" ”

Nagano Kentada didn't expect it to go so smoothly at all, and before he had time to make the foreshadowing, Anaka Tadamasa rushed to say the most important words in front of him, and he could only regret it, while hurriedly raising his arm and echoing: "I also seconded it below!" ”

Looking at the lack of morale of the people, Nagano Yezheng suddenly felt that the Nishiueno Guoren Group, which he had worked so hard to manage, was so fragile, and remembered that his identity was not the eight Shangzhou families, so he could only sigh secretly: "What am I insisting on?" The head of the countrymen or the complete dominance of Nishiueno? Now, there is Hojo in the south, Takeda in the west, and Nagao in the north, and there are enemies in all directions, and it is already so difficult to resist one with the strength of my mountain and wild people, what will happen if the three are divided? ”

The Nagano family was never a powerful member of the Ueno family, until his father, Nagano Kenei, caught up with the Yamauchi Uesugi and Echigo Nagao family to make peace, and Shirai Nagao and the head office Nagao returned to the Yamauchi Uesugi family as a cooperative recommendation, and then he took this opportunity to show his martial arts strategy, and continued to accumulate merits to become the Nagano family governor and even Nishi-Ueno's number one countryman.

The disadvantage of increasing the speed of the rocket is that it will not be fully supported by the people of the country, and the alliance group of the people needs an alliance leader instead of the lord, and Nagano Ye is unable to do it even if he has the intention to realize the transition from the alliance leader to the daimyo, and the more than a dozen sons-in-law are all strong and extraordinary, so that he, who is the father-in-law, is powerless to forcibly suppress it, and he is worried that he will lose face if he is not careful to be opposed by the sons-in-law.

Now the high-morale Minowa people are full of bags in front of the Hojo family's five-color preparation, and they can't raise their heads when they are pressed and beaten by the Hojo army, and they lose hundreds of lives in vain, but they still use several exquisite surprise cooperation from the Nagano Sixteen Guns led by Dahu Hidetsuna to recover a little face.

This is a huge contrast compared to last year's blocking of the 8,000 Takeda Army, many self-confident people were blinded at once, if it were not for the Hojo Army survivors' plan to repel the Minowa people and then clean up the Nagao Army, it happened that the Nagao Army broke all the way to gain the initiative on the battlefield, and Nagano Yemasa did not dare to guarantee whether it could withstand the onslaught of the more than 20,000 Hojo Army.

"It seems that we and the rest of the country can only fight the battle method of cage city and wait for the opportunity to counterattack!" Nagano Yemasa said discouragedly: "That's it! Send a message for help to the main hall of Nagaodan! (To be continued......)