Chapter 741 22. Seventh Stage of Strong Attack to the Center
Flags were flying high on Shitara Plain, and the Yamauchi army was thundering left and right!
"Breakthrough in the center! Breakthrough in the center!" A messenger held up a long banner with the word "five" in front of the formation to convey the news of the victory breakthrough to the Yamauchi main camp under Kiyoida Plain.
The advancing teams along the way cheered one after another. Kanai Hideharu of the fifth division of the hatamoto braved the overwhelming artillery fire and bullets and actually broke through the horse fence that the Yamauchi army's first-hand teams could not break through after five advances.
And he also broke through the first horse fence in the center. He was the only one in the entire Yamauchi army who broke through two horse fences!
"Cheers!" Ashikaga Yoshiaki also applauded.
Now the left wing and the center of the Yamauchi have successively advanced to the last line of defense in front of the enemy. If any breakthrough is made, they can turn to the Tanshotai and form an encirclement of Oda Nobunaga on the Tanshotai.
I will teach you that not a single soldier of Gifu Tansho can escape from this Shitara Plain!
Because of the crazy attack of the Kanai team, the troops of Hashiba Hideyoshi finally couldn't hold on and fled backwards, dragging Sasaki Narimasa and others to flee backwards. The third line of defense in the center of the Oda-Tokyo coalition was Nobunaga's son-in-law, Konan Gamo Fuhide, Mino Fuba Mitsuharu, and his milk brother Owari Ikeda Tsuneoki.
They were all Nobunaga's diehard supporters, otherwise they would not have been entrusted with such an important task. Especially Ikeda Tsuneoki, who grew up with Nobunaga, and this relationship could not be more solid. Oda Nobuhide also fully demonstrated his noble character of "I will raise your wife and children, you don't have to worry!" After Ikeda Tsunetoshi died, he adopted his wife and children.
Now Ikeda Tsuneoki is the lord of Inuyama Castle, and is actually the main commander of the third central horse fence. He is accompanied by other Owari and Mino people, and the total number of people is about 4,000 to 4,500 cavalry.
In short, this line of defense will not be easier to break than the second horse fence defended by Hashiba Hideyoshi. Moreover, as long as there are still people in front of the various units that have retreated in the early stage, there will always be a chance to regroup, so they must be defeated quickly as well.
Hosokawa Saime Masaharu joined forces with the successor village to defend Yoshikuni last week and launched the seventh charge!
"I will also join the first move and prepare to attack Gifu Danzheng with Saime!" Fujiwara Danzheng realized that the situation was tilting towards the Yamanouchi army, and the final decisive battle would soon take place.
"Okay!"
The Thousand Cavalry of Nagakawa rushed to the center of the Zhide coalition army under the guidance of the Qiancheng Jinzhuye horse mark. The more than ten fully armed tall warriors in the team were the armed guards of the friars affiliated with the Hamamatsu Church, and there were also dozens of religious militias accompanying them.
In accordance with the agreement with Kobayata, Father William recruited explorers willing to come to Japan for adventure from Macau, Malacca, Siam, the Spice Islands and other places. As mercenaries of the church, they usually guarded the churches and Nanman trading houses in Hamamatsu, and responded to the Yamanouchi family's annual 60-day military conscription during wartime.
The Virgin Mary holding the Holy Child followed the Qianchengjin Bamboo Leaf Horse Flag. The soldiers sang hymns with unknown tunes and followed the large group of people. The teams on both sides shouted in unison, "Victory! Victory! Our army won!"
The unparalleled general of the East, Akechi Dansho Daibutsuna, went out!
Kanai Aigoro, who was originally determined to fight, was finally snatched away after breaking through the second horse fence. In front of the third horse fence was the heroic figure of Hosokawa and others.
Apart from other things, our brother-in-law Hosokawa Saiko is also a top-notch martial artist, a tough guy who ran two kilometers barefoot in the middle of winter. A spear can only make a person afraid of ghosts. Even Ikeda Terumasa could not resist it.
"Shibata Nanakuro is here to ask for advice!" [Note 1]
"Just in time!" Hosokawa Nainou was not afraid and fought against Shibata Yasutada.
Murakami Yoshikuni, who followed the charge, repeatedly assigned his retainers to remove the fences under the fire of the Portuguese. The two men had already known that Kanai Aigoro was shot and killed, but they could not stop leading the charge because of this. A clay pot cannot be broken without a well mouth, and a general will inevitably die on the battlefield. That's all.
"I, Ina Genzaemon, come to fight!" Another general jumped out of the Oda army to fight against the Murakami Katsurao who were removing the fences.
Both sides knew that it was a critical moment. Even if the Owari and Mino soldiers were not as durable as the Shinano soldiers, the samurai of Owari and Mino would not necessarily lose to the samurai of Shinano.
Especially now, the left wing of the Oda-Tokugawa coalition where Oda Nobunaga was located was still under attack from the right wing of the Yamanouchi army. The two sides were entangled together. Originally, they thought to use heavy troops to delay the heavily reinforced right wing of the Yamanouchi army, and wait for its exhaustion before the whole army counterattacked.
As a result, they were self-defeating. The Yamanouchi army simply gave it a go, and all the troops rushed towards the Oda-Tokugawa coalition, took turns to fight, and constantly attacked the horse fences and trenches, changing from "break through key points, the whole army rushes!" to "the whole army rushes, break through everywhere!".
The Kitabatake troops of the Oda army have not yet come down from Midoyama to participate in the battle. Minus the 12,000, the Oda-Tokugawa coalition of 55,000 people only has 43,000 people, which is almost the same as the 39,000 troops of the Yamanouchi army in the battle.
"Ina Genzaemon has been captured!"
There was a loud shout in the battle, and a head was lifted high. It is still unknown who captured the enemy general. The cannons of the Yamauchi army arrived at the earth platform set up by the Oda army as the first line of defense before Fujiwara Danmasa's Nagakawa troops, and without saying a word, they began to bombard Ikeda Terumasa's troops. In the past, the Yamauchi artillerymen had always beaten others, but this was the first time they were beaten, and they felt very angry.
First, a general was captured, and then they were bombarded at close range. The Fuwa Mitsuharu's troops, who were attacked by Murakami Yoshikuni, finally wavered. The heads held high by spears in the smoke and the shells that kept falling into the formation weakened the morale of the Fuwa soldiers. In an unnoticeable moment, the first soldier turned around and ran away.
Once there is a first, there will be a second. Every foot soldier in the Warring States period is a master with eyes behind his head. Based on the central idea of who will die but not me, the Fuwa troops were like hot butter melting and rushed away.
"We won! We won!"
[Note 1]: This person was not very related to Shibata Katsuie. He was a retainer of the Tokugawa clan who was assigned by Tokugawa Ieyasu to Ikeda Terumasa so that he could recognize the flags of the generals of the Yamauchi army who came to attack. In history, this person was assigned to Sakuma Nobumori, and was also responsible for identifying the generals of the Takeda army.
He served Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1561. In the 6th year of Eiroku (1563), Mikawa started to practice the Pure Land sect.と名成った. In the 10th year of Eiroku (1567), Ieyasu established a new job system for his family, and Yasuzada Hatamoto appointed the first person to serve as a general. In 1500, he was appointed by the family elder after his success in the war.
Finally, he survived as a 5,000-koku hatamoto of Musashi Province and a private market. He was one of the important hatamoto families that participated in the Edo shogunate's politics for a long time.