Chapter 638 44. The only Thing Left Now Is to Chase the Fugitives

In the feudal era, the route of the army's march was certain, and there was no need for any guesswork or estimation. As long as the number of troops reached tens of thousands, they could only go to a certain place.

Even if you were a nomadic cavalryman who came and went like the wind, it would be useless. Since you were going to rob, you would definitely go along the town. A general with a little bit of brains could even calculate what time you would go to where and where you would camp tonight.

This situation was particularly obvious in the Japanese Warring States Period. At that time, Tokugawa Ieyasu asked Fujido Takatora where the Western Army would come from. Fujido Takatora said without hesitation that the Western Army could only go to the Kuwana area of ​​Ise Street or the Ogaki area of ​​Mino Street.

The number of the Western Army must be around 100,000 or even more. If they wanted to march normally and not cause problems for the army's march, their main force would definitely go to the Ogaki Castle of Mino Street!

Obviously, the Battle of Sekigahara took place near the Ogaki Castle of Mino Street, and Fujido Takatora was right!

And what Kanai Aigoro said made Xiao Pingtai suddenly enlightened!

Oishi Ujiteru was in such a hurry, there must have been a big problem in Koga!

If we don't launch a surprise attack on such a fast-marching army, we will not live up to the nickname of "guerrilla bomber" of Koyata. And assuming that Hosokawa Saijo conquered Koga, then with Hosokawa Saijo's fighting style, she would charge forward! He would not sit in a place and defend the city to death! He would definitely go out of the city to attack the Hojo reinforcements who came to rescue Koga.

There are only a few ways to rescue Koga, and the Hojo troops are all limited. Oishi Ujiteru's main force will attack Ueno, Fujita Ujikuni will guard Koshuguchi, and Imagawa Ujiki will guard Kokokuji.

Under normal circumstances, Oishi Ujiteru should have divided more than 10,000 troops to rescue Shimotsu.

Combining several situations, Koyata judged that Hosokawa Saijo would take the Shimotsu people who were dragged by him after he occupied Koga, about 15,000 people, to Oshi Castle to attack the Hojo army that he estimated would rescue Koga.

But the Hojo army has more than 30,000 main forces!

This is a huge crisis, but also a huge opportunity!

Assuming that Kobayata can reach the south of Oshi Castle before the war breaks out, it is very likely that he will join forces with Hosokawa Saejo who has gone out to Oshi Castle to ambush or attack the Hojo reinforcements. The two armies will join forces with 30,000 troops and the Hojo army in Oshi Castle. One battle will be enough to decide the outcome!

After thinking about it, I feel that it is very feasible at this time! Kobayata immediately went to persuade the generals of the Lianpanzhong who were with the army, but although Kobayata's words made sense, everyone was still hesitant.

However, Yamauchi Taro, who was sitting on the upper hand, said that his mother told him that his father Yamauchi Yoshikatsu believed that war was never 100% certain, and as long as there was a 50% chance of winning, he should go all out. As a general, there should not be the slightest hesitation!

It was a final decision!

The army immediately cooked, and the soldiers had a full meal and rested immediately, and woke up at three o'clock the next morning. Leaving behind a thousand small porters and miscellaneous soldiers to look after the baggage and fodder, the remaining 15,000 troops were lightly equipped and rushed to Oshi Castle.

However, Xiao Pingtai still overestimated the level of his troops. Except for the regular flag bearers who almost caught up, the army of the Totomi army began to fall behind from the third or fourth hour after the departure.

When they arrived near Oshi Castle, there were only 8,000 or 9,000 people left in the whole army. The team was scattered and the heads could not be counted. They were preparing to take a rest, gather the soldiers, and then go to Oshi Castle. As a result, the forward Monomi brought shocking news.

Tens of thousands of people were fighting near Oshi Castle!

After further investigation, it was confirmed that Hosokawa Saime was attacking the Hojo army with a line of five kilometers!

Looking back at the troops under his command who were gasping for breath, except for the flag bearers who were in a slightly better condition, the others would not be able to play any role even if they were driven to the battlefield.

It was old man Uesugi Shizukata who followed him. Those under his command who were still willing to work with him were all veterans who had been dealing with the Hojo for many years. They were not good at fighting, but they were great at running away. Although many of them fell behind, there were still 500 to 600 people.

The rest were the hundreds of miscellaneous soldiers from Hachioji who led the way, and the hatamoto standing guards.

The generals of Lianpan immediately gathered together and held a meeting on the ridge of the field. They would definitely go up to fight, but they couldn't fight in the current situation.

How could they go up to support Hosokawa Kane?

Cannon? Kobayata had left all the food, tents, iron pots, etc. in the well grass. How could he run for eight hours with a cannon?

Cavalry? Cavalry was used in Oshi Castle? You must be kidding.

"In the way of using troops, attacking the heart is better than attacking the city. Psychological warfare is better than military warfare." Yamauchi Taro actually spoke while standing in Murakami Yoshimitsu's bamboo basket.

Murakami Yoshimitsu has suffered a lot along the way. At the beginning, he could still ride a horse and march. As he got closer to Oshi Castle, the road became more and more difficult to walk on, and he could not ride a horse and march quickly. But you can't just leave Yamauchi Taro in the wild, right? Come on, Murakami Yoshimitsu, you are the youngest, and I will give you such an honorable task of carrying the young master to participate in the war.

So now Murakami Yoshimitsu is standing there, leaning on a stick from nowhere and panting, while Yamauchi Taro sat in a big basket all the way and got here without any effort.

"How to attack the heart?" Old man Uesugi actually knew that this sentence must be a cliché taught by the teacher to Yamauchi Taro, but now Yamauchi Taro is the most powerful, so he has to take the lead.

"In fact, a surprise attack can shake the morale of the Hojo army, but the report shows that the Hojo army is boundless, and Oshi Castle cannot deploy a large army." Konishihara Saemon turned his head and looked at the rotten land around.

"Do you know the story of King Xiang of Western Chu?" Xiao Pingtai thought about it in accordance with the army's heart, and a plan came to his mind.

"What did Uncle Tanzheng say?"

"The siege of Gaixia, surrounded by Chu songs!"

………………

Facing the collapsed Hojo army, the Yamauchi army and other coalition forces could not stop it at all. Although they ran slowly, they could not speed up the pursuit. Mud is equal to everyone. It will not stop slipping just because you are handsome.

However, the boats of hundreds of people from Shinobi City who had already scattered rushed out again, and continued to take out their slingshots, one after another, and tied them up with straw ropes when they were knocked down, which was very fast.

At this time, the Yamauchi army that fell behind got the advantage. They were distributed from Shinobi City all the way south to Kawagoe City, which happened to be the road where the Hojo army fled.

Xiao Pingtai immediately sent people to announce along the way that the fallen warriors were launched, so that the six or seven thousand people who were left on the way could take subjective initiative and capture the prisoners.

As for the generals of the Hojo army, they could only rely on luck. The thousands of Kawagoe and Hachioji who had collapsed on the ground after singing in the front row of Kobayata's side could not move at all. Singing was also a very strenuous thing.

The coalition forces that had been attacking the Hojo army for more than three and a half hours felt relieved. Looking at the Yamauchi army rolling in from the south, they all showed different emotions.