Chapter 734 17. Cao Gui’s Practical Discussion on War

One breakthrough, the whole army advances!

Imagawa Yoshichika's right wing made progress as soon as the battle started. Although the battle line that stretched more than two kilometers from north to south opened a gap of only a few meters, with the ability of the Yamauchi army, couldn't they break through the gap?

"Your Highness, you can order all the armies to advance together and start fighting!" Fujiwara Dan was observing the battle situation.

Now there is a loophole in the position where Takigawa Ieyasu is located. If this loophole continues to expand, Oda Nobunaga must withdraw troops to support, which will inevitably affect the arrangement of the entire front line.

The Yamauchi army is now all together, entangled with the elite front line of the Oda-Tokugawa coalition, which is equivalent to pinning down most of the opponent's elite soldiers. Troops like the Kitabatake clan, with a total of 12,000, are placed in the second line. "Big but useless" is an excellent synonym.

"Order the uncle of the first-hand lady and the great-uncle of the left wing to send troops together and charge forward when the opportunity arises!" Ashikaga Yoshiaki nodded. Although the main camp issued the order, it was also necessary to give the front-line commanders a certain degree of autonomy.

Just like Imagawa Yoshichika, who should charge forward and how many people should be sent forward, this specific arrangement was directly authorized by Ashikaga Yoshiaki to Imagawa Yoshichika. Imagawa Yoshichika only needs to complete the order to break through the first horse fence!

Since the main camp's order is to charge forward when the opportunity arises, entangle the enemy's front-line troops, and once a key breakthrough is made somewhere, the entire army will strengthen the offensive and crush the front-line Weide coalition with upright troops. Then Hosokawa Lady and Yamauchi Shukei were also unambiguous, with flags flying and messengers shouting orders.

Sanada Nobunaga, who was assigned to the first-hand, led the 2,000 Sanada cavalry out of the battle. Sanada Nobunaga, under the ladder pattern horse standard, held a three-foot-three-inch long sword and stood on his horse. The Sanada clan was mainly composed of the twelve clans of the last descendant of the Ogata County veteran Shigeno Saburo, and the descendants of Mochizuki Kotaro Yukiji. They united and advanced steadily with wooden shields and bamboo bundles.

The enemy facing Sanada Nobunaga was the Wakasa and Jiangbei soldiers led by Niwa Nagahide. There were not many people, only 4,000 people, but as the main force in the first half of the war, the Wakasa clan was also experienced in many battles. Since the Onin Bunmei Rebellion, the Wakasa clan has appeared on the stage of the Warring States Period and is not necessarily inferior to the other Takeda who is far away in Kai in terms of experience in fighting.

Now with the help of iron cannons, there was a constant crackling sound in front of the battle, all of which were the shocking sounds of lead bullets hitting bamboo bundles and wooden shields. After all, there were hundreds of iron cannons firing at the same time, and the Sanada clan still fell four or five people in the first round of volleys.

It's no big deal!

Arriving in front of the battle, the soldiers put down their shields, and the iron cannons and longbows in their own army also began to fight back. Although the Oda army built fortifications, this was in the wild after all. It was great to build three two-kilometer-long fortifications in two or three days, but it was impossible to be as solid as the real castle.

On the other side, Yamauchi Shukei faced generals such as Osuga Yasutaka and Ishikawa Ienari from the Mikawa clan. The Mikawa clan had far fewer iron cannons than Oda Nobunaga, but they had the large cannons that Kobayata had fooled them into buying for 300 kan each, and there were quite a few of them.

At a distance of 20 to 30 meters, or 30 to 40 meters, these large cannons were still quite effective. The Tokugawa army had been operating for so many years and had also figured out a lot of practical tactics on their own. These large cannons were evenly distributed behind the horse fence, and when the Yamauchi army approached, they would suddenly fire, and then a strong man would hold them and run away.

The Yamauchi army couldn't even name the large cannons, because Tokugawa's large cannons were not fixed on the gun carriage. He really had a strong samurai guarding them at any time. After loading in a hidden place, send it to the front line to fire, and immediately turn back after firing, and continue to find a hidden corner to reload.

It fits the tactical style of Tokugawa Ieyasu!

Yamauchi Shukei is used to big storms, and he doesn't take this elusive big gun too seriously. He said to his subordinates calmly, "Order Kawaguchi Hyogo's troops to advance!"

Kawaguchi Nobumi cursed in his heart, but the situation was stronger than the person, and Yamauchi Shukei's military orders were like mountains, so he could only bite the bullet. Lead the Kai people to remove the horse fence and fill the trench.

……………………

The Yamauchi people advanced in an orderly manner, and Oda Nobunaga's side was naturally not without reaction. Oda Nobunaga only analyzed the Yamauchi army's strategy of "focusing on breakthroughs, the whole army advances!" and roughly guessed 70% to 80%.

It is obvious that the breakthrough point chosen by the Yamauchi army is the very different Takigawa Ieyasu's troops in the Oda army, whose combat effectiveness is sometimes high and sometimes low. It is hard to say whether the 6,000 northern Ise troops under Takigawa Ieyasu can withstand the fierce attack of Imagawa Yoshichika and his subordinates.

So after a little consideration, Oda Nobunaga began to move the formation!

Staying at Gokurakuji Mountain was too far away from the battlefield, and it was impossible to take care of the huge army of 55,000 people in time. So he decided to move the main camp forward and use his own 10,000 troops as a reserve to support the front line at any time.

Passing through the valley between Chausu Mountain and Matsuo Mountain, Oda Nobunaga's Yongle Tongbao horse emblem suddenly appeared behind the front-line army, and the momentum of the front-line troops suddenly emerged.

After setting up the main camp on the side of a plateau, Oda Nobunaga actually began to command the three armies of Sakuma Nobumori, Takigawa Ieyasu and Niwa Nagahide with a total of more than 15,000 people. In addition to Oda Nobunaga's own more than 10,000, in fact, in response to the key breakthrough of the right wing of the Yamanouchi army, the Oda army used nearly three times the force to block it.

This was not a brilliant tactic, it was a case of the majority bullying the minority, using a rotation of battles to constantly consume the powerful attack of the right wing of the Yamanouchi Army. Cao Gui once said in his discussion of war that the first attack is powerful, the second is weak, and the third is exhausted.

No matter how brave the Yamauchi Army is, it is impossible for each soldier to have a perpetual motion machine. How long can a strong man wearing full armor and holding a sword fight? Except for a few strong men, ordinary people can only fight for half an hour.

Oda Nobunaga is now using three times the superior force to resist you, and he will resist you until you are exhausted, unless you change your strategy on the battlefield!

What kind of chaos will this cause on the battlefield of cold weapons where the transmission is basically done by shouting? There is no need to say more, right? The armies of almost 100,000 people on both sides are intertwined on the battlefield of three or four kilometers from north to south and seven or eight kilometers from east to west. The slightest carelessness may cause chaos in the whole army. Any wise commander will not change his strategy on the battlefield.

"The firepower of His Highness Suruga-no-kami on the right wing must be strengthened!" Fujiwara Danzheng saw the appearance of the Yongle Tongbao horse mark, and knew that Oda Nobunaga had moved forward to the main camp.

"Okay! Please ask the Ministry of War to take my 500 iron cannons to help!" Ashikaga Yoshiaki saw that his uncle Hosokawa Fujitaka was still sitting on the side of the main camp without speaking.

"Yes, sir!" Hosokawa Fujitaka stood up slowly and shouted back.

"Also tell Chiba to use the big bronze cannon when necessary!"

"Order Katsurao-dono (Murakami Yoshikuni) to go forward and see if there is a way to cut off the Niwa and Takigawa divisions!" Fujiwara Dansei waved his green bamboo stick and pointed forward.