Chapter 285 19. The Iron Cavalry Tramples the Enemy Camp in the Mountain

Takeda Harunobu was a wise man. He also knew that the Yamauchi army of more than 20,000 people had to take the main road and could not take the small road.

At the same time, even if Yamauchi Yoshiharu sent a few hundred people to attack from the rear and enter Kawanakajima. The long detour plus the infantry would not be able to reach it by dusk, let alone the evening.

But he had no idea that Yamauchi Yoshiharu was willing to risk his life and bet on the fate of the country. Yamauchi Yoshikatsu's 500 cavalrymen had 1,600 to 1,700 mules and horses. Not only did everyone have a horse, but also armor and weapons were carried by horses. The war horses were just trotting to accumulate horsepower.

Such a large-scale maneuver, except for Yamauchi Yoshiharu who occupied the southern Shinano horse-producing area and had more than 2,000 pack horses with the army. For a while, there was no second person in Japan who had this ability. [Note 1]

Takeda Harunobu was just limited by the times. He had seen 500 cavalrymen and surprise attacks. But he could not imagine, nor had he seen a fast-moving war that could mobilize a huge cavalry of more than 500 horses and equipped with 1,600 or 1,700 horses. (It's really pitiful. The Ming army saw this kind of scene a lot, and the cavalry was even ten or even dozens of times larger.)

We modern people think this is such a simple and crude tactic, but it was a rare and even unique strategy in the Japanese Warring States Period.

Of course, Yamauchi Yoshikatsu's shouting could not really stimulate Takeda Harunobu. The army of thousands of people around him was stable, and how could it be defeated by a mere surprise attack team.

He had seen the combat effectiveness of the Yamauchi army, at most 50-50. Unless Yamauchi Yoshiharu personally led tens of thousands of people to attack with all his strength, he would not be afraid at all.

He was just wondering how many Yamauchi troops came since there were hundreds of iron cannon foot soldiers rushing to attack, and Yamauchi Yoshikatsu led the team.

But the rumbling of horse hooves soon covered the roar of the iron cannon. Yamauchi Yoshikatsu's iron cannon horse circle had only 60 riders, even if one person had two guns, or even one person had three guns. But the few volleys before the assault were just for nothing, and none of the family servants who helped them load the weapons were brought along this time.

Takeda Harunobu was still commanding the junior officers and close followers of his own team to take some manpower to block the attack first. Then he asked Kyorai Ishiminbu and Hara Hayato to dispatch two troops to eat up Yamauchi Yoshikatsu.

Before he finished giving the order, cheers like mountains and seas came from Chausu Mountain not far away. The white-and-black-striped horse emblem of Marunouchi was cut down, and replaced by the sword Hachibishamonten and Yamauchi Nibiru.

Minamoto no Asobu Yamauchi Councilor Left Guard Major General Yoshiharu went out!

"Prime Minister Yamauchi? Impossible! How did he get here!" Takeda Harunobu couldn't believe it.

When Yamauchi Yoshikatsu's surprise attack team appeared, he was already extremely confused, and Yamauchi Yoshiharu's large group of people had actually arrived!

"Give my regards to Prime Minister Yamauchi." Uesugi Terutora was also surprised. Before he attacked Murakami Yoshikiyo's main force, he found that the Yamauchi army, which was in high spirits and full of energy, ran into the battlefield ahead of Hosokawa Sai'e.

Compared with Takeda Harunobu's sitting back and watching the outcome, Hosokawa Sai'e was much more straightforward. After observing the situation, she cooperated with the Uesugi army to attack the main camp of the Chausuyama Murakami army.

"My prince will be here soon, and I am sent to help His Highness the Kanrei." Hosokawa Sai'e saluted Uesugi Terutora.

Uesugi Terutora was naturally surprised that the Yamauchi army was full of energy and arrived at the Kawanakajima battlefield at noon, but he did not ask much, just come.

"Would you like to go down the mountain with me to fight Kai Daizen?" "Of course I want to! I am willing to follow in your footsteps!"

The two of them hastily organized the troops and charged down.

There were actually 4,000 Murakami troops between them and Takeda Harunobu, but the 2,000 wild monks were just the Ikki. The hundreds of soldiers of the Seino team and the more than 1,000 soldiers of the Yashiro team were not there, and the situation of Murakami Yoshikiyo was unclear. The main camp was also in danger, and the people were already panicking.

When the white flag with black stripes on the Marunouchi of the Chausuyama Murakami main camp fell, the 4,000 people collapsed.

The panicked Murakami soldiers were facing the roaring Uesugi army in the north, the Yamanouchi and Uesugi coalition in the west, the rising Chikuma River in the south, and the "friendly army" Takeda Harunobu in the east.

How to run?

Those who were good at swimming, strong bodies, and familiar with the roads ran south, and the remaining 3,000 people were like a migrating herd of wildebeests on the prairie, and they fled to the Takeda army without a mind.

Takeda Harunobu finally panicked, and the situation was far beyond his expectations. The snipe and the clam fight, and the fisherman benefits. Unfortunately, he, the "fisherman", made a big mistake.

The Yamauchi army arrived too quickly, only half an hour later than him. And they immediately joined the battlefield, which was not like an army after a long march.

"Swish!" The shogunate tent painted with Takeda's diamond was suddenly slashed open.

"It was me, Murakami Sasama Daitoshi Yoshimitsu, who was the first to attack the Takeda main camp! Who will fight me!" Murakami Yoshimitsu, holding a spear, attacked the Takeda shogunate in a heroic manner.

As if to cooperate with his shouting, one after another of the Yamauchi cavalrymen attacked the Takeda main camp.

The originally stable shogunate tent was trampled to pieces by the war horses, completely open to the Yamauchi army. But this also made Takeda Harunobu see clearly that the cavalry of the Yamauchi army was hacking and killing. There were no infantry, they were all sharp warriors with strong martial arts and complete armor.

Hara Hayato and Kyorai Ishimin immediately led their troops to meet the Yamanouchi army and ordered the Takeda troops to come to the rescue. However, at this time, the Takeda left wing was attacked by more than 3,000 Murakami's defeated troops and was unable to take care of itself.

The right wing's Morokaku, Hatsukano, Asari, Amari and other troops heard the call for help from the main camp and began to break away from the formation and move towards the Takeda main camp.

Originally, the three divisions of Suwa, Oi, and Sanada, which were attacking first, left the Suwa division with the strongest troops, and the other two divisions also retreated without authorization and headed towards Takeda's main camp.

Of course, Takeda Harunobu had to stand still, and he was still confident. It was said that Murakami Yoshimitsu had already attacked the main camp, but in fact, the main camp was very large, and Murakami Yoshimitsu was at least thirty or fifty meters away from him. In addition, the Takeda army was large in number, and the formation of the entire army was still stable at this moment. Even if Yamauchi Yoshikatsu broke into the main camp, he could repel him.

However, the Takeda Centipede kept reporting one after another news that made him uneasy.

"Takeda's stable team was attacked by Murakami's fleeing soldiers, and the formation was in chaos and could not fight."

"The same is true for the Hara Mino team."

"The teams on the right wing began to support the main camp." "Damn it, who asked them to move." Takeda Harunobu cursed when he heard this.

He completely forgot his order to Hara Hayato to transfer two teams to eat up Yamauchi Yoshikatsu.

"The two teams of Sanada and Oi, who took the lead, are also coming to support the main camp."

"The Naito team on the left wing has already started fighting with the Uesugi army."

Takeda Harunobu really couldn't figure it out. He was clearly taking every step carefully, so where did he go wrong?

[Note 1]: It's a sad thing that Kenshin Uesugi spent his entire life in the military, but he never completely controlled the horse trade in Echigo until his death. The author once saw a document from the Rokkaku clan, which showed that they did not pay taxes to Kenshin Uesugi for the horses they imported from Echigo, which is very telling.

In addition, in history, the only daimyo who could conduct large-scale cavalry mobile warfare with thousands of troops, apart from the three people of Ori Toyotaka, was the Hojo clan. In the Hojo clan's military service account, the Iwatsuki Ota clan alone mobilized 500 horses, and Chiba Suke of the Sakukura clan also had hundreds of horses. The cavalry mobilization ability and the number of horses were rare in the country.