Author: Middle-aged paper tiger

In May and June, the weather was already a bit hot. Kogoro opened his chest clothes and panted like a bellows. His feet were already numb, but he still kept walking forward mechanically.

The comrades around him were all similar to Kogoro. They didn't seem to be marching, but rather fleeing.

They had just returned from Owata Tomari heading towards Namba Kyo.

This was really torturous. It was a full one hundred and seventy miles from Namba Kyo to Owata Tomo. They had just arrived at Owada Tomo and only stayed for seven or eight days before they were urgently asked to return.

Long-distance marches, especially long-distance marches where soldiers feel they have taken the wrong path, have a very serious impact on morale.

This was how Kogoro felt now. He was extremely tired, and the patriotism that had just arisen in his heart suddenly disappeared.

In my imagination, he, Kogoro, should be holding a tachi, charging into the enemy formation and slashing and killing. Even if he is outnumbered, he is still a heroic son who serves his country loyally.

However, reality gave him a blow in the head, and all his enthusiasm disappeared in the dusty face running back and forth.

Fujiwara Hidego was accompanied by Fujiwara Minori, the left minister. The two came from the same clan. Although Fujiwara Hidego was a branch of the Shoshu clan, he had the power to kill Taira Shogun, and the Eastern Kingdom samurai had a reputation for being good at fighting.

When it comes to the need to rely on military personnel, Minister Zuo is still very polite to the corporal, not to mention that he is a member of his own family.

Fujiwara Hidego is riding on a not too short Hokkaido horse. This kind of pony is usually only four feet, which is one meter two and three meters tall. Of course, there is a small chance that a tall horse can be produced.

Fujiwara Hidego was the shogunate of a country, so it was naturally impossible for him to ride a pony. The brown Hokkaido horse under his crotch was five feet tall. In the Japanese country, it was considered a very sacred horse.

Fujiwara Hidego was extremely anxious when he saw that the team was stretching for more than ten miles and was in chaos. The only way to maintain order was to rely on a bunch of subordinates and military attachés with the title of Guardsmen (Bingei, Guards), second lieutenants, etc.

Whether this army is strong or not can be seen just by looking at its march. The imperial court has not dispatched tens of thousands of people to fight for hundreds of years, so the planning is a mess and it cannot be said to be very strong.

According to Fujiwara Hidego's knowledge, Yan Kou came from Andong and was always good at cavalry. Although he had never seen what Chinese cavalry looked like, he had seen the Ezo cavalry.

Although there are few people, they are strong, fast and good at making surprise attacks. I think this is also the case with the Yankou cavalry.

On the other hand, the march on our side was in complete disarray. Once we were attacked, we would be in doom.

Thinking of this, Fujiwara Hidego rode his horse and rushed to the left minister Fujiwara Minori and said:

"Zuofu, our army is about to arrive outside Namba. The plains here are very flat and it is very easy to be attacked by Yan bandits. I would like to lead fifty of my elite cavalry to go forward to cover the army and conduct reconnaissance."

The word war did not make a deep impression on Fujiwara Minori's mind at all, because the Japanese country had never fought any wars. Of course, he could not imagine how ferocious the Central Plains cavalry was.

Minister Zuo did not have a deep understanding of the dangers of marching. He could not see where the dangers were. However, since Fujiwara Hidego was willing to serve as a knight, he had no objection.

Fujiwara Minori looked at Fujiwara Hidego with a smile and said: "With Kamikokushou out, the army will be as stable as Mount Tai. I will allocate fifty more Fujiwara family knights to you to guard against Yan invaders."

In the Japanese administrative system, the prefectures and counties affiliated to each province are also divided into large countries, upper countries, Chinese countries, and lower countries.

The government department is divided into four levels: Shou, Jie, Feng, and Mu. Among them, Shou is the top leader, Jie is the deputy, and Feng is the third in rank. They are usually local wealthy families, and the heads are secretaries and so on. The ones below are the officials.

Fujiwara Hidego was Shimono Mamoru, one of the four descendants, and Shimoyori was one of the superiors, so Fujiwara Minori called him Kami no Mamoru very affectionately, which obviously meant to win over him.

On the other hand, Fujiwara Hidego didn't think so much at all. A soldier's instinct for crisis made him feel that something big was going to happen.

He immediately arched his hand, and immediately left the formation with a hundred cavalry in a hurry, and went to explore the front.

Along the way, the soldiers who were walking saw Fujiwara Hidego's hundred horses and suddenly cheered in unison.

Because this kind of cavalry with one person and two horses, most of which have iron armor and strong bows hanging on the sides of the horses, was an extremely powerful force for the Japanese country.

Due to the small plains of this Japanese country, there are not many cavalry. In addition, their opponents, the Ezo people, live in Kanto and Hokkaido. There are several small plains. Therefore, most of the Ezo people can shoot horses and archery.

In order to counter them, the Japanese formed this kind of cavalry that wore armor or evolved from armor and painted red and black.

In addition, they also like to wear strange black and red cloaks to make themselves look powerful.

This kind of heavy armored cavalry is somewhat strange to the Chinese, and it can be regarded as one of the sources of the Japanese knights in three-color mother uniforms.

Moreover, after shooting the legendary and invincible Taira Shomon, Fujiwara Hidego was also regarded as a brave general among the Japanese warriors, and his reputation was very high. These samurai knew that it was Fujiwara Hidego who was passing by, so they were even more excited.

However, Fujiwara Hidego didn't have the energy to listen to these compliments. He now wanted to know whether Yodogawa was still under his control.

The Yodogawa is the most important river in Namba and Osaka. At this time, the urban area of ​​Osaka was still on the east bank of the Yodogawa. Therefore, the Yodogawa did not pass through the city as it did in later generations, but acted as a moat.

But at the same time, if the enemy cuts off the bridge over the Yodo River, they can block their 50,000 to 60,000 troops outside Namba Kyo-Osaka Castle.

By that time, the defenses inside the city will be empty, and the people outside the city will have no supplies, and the end will come.

Just when Fujiwara Hidego was getting impatient, a brave general from a distance led by seventy or eighty cavalry galloped over. This man was none other than Taira Sadamori who had conquered the Taira Shomen together with Fujiwara Hidego.

"Fujiwara-kun, are you going to Yodogawa? The Taira family is here to help."

Ping Zhensheng asked from a distance. He was worthy of being a general of the Japanese country in Kanto. Almost at the same time, both of them realized something was wrong.

Fujiwara Hidego burst into laughter when he saw Taira Sadamori, and the shadow in his heart seemed to dissipate a lot, "Taira-kun is still so loyal and patriotic, so let's go and defend Yodogawa together."

Ping Zhensheng also laughed a few times and said, "The Yan invaders are elite. If you want to go, go as many as possible. What can these two hundred people do?"

As he spoke, Taira Sadamori shouted to the Japanese who were watching them: "Here is Lord Fujiwara, the guardian of the Ueno Kingdom, who is going to explore the Yodo River. Is there any brave warrior who dares to accompany him? I want to meet the Yan bandits first."

Following Taira Sadamori's shout, many subordinates with armored estates, elite noble warriors, guards, and guardsmen all responded, and soon two thousand people gathered.

Multiple people.

Fujiwara Hidego glanced at Taira Sadamori approvingly. Although the two of them had not discussed it, they felt in their hearts that the Yan invaders had already landed in Wakayama and were very likely to come for a surprise attack.

Immediately, Fujiwara Hidego said to the more than two thousand people gathered: "Since you all trust me, Hidego, we might as well make our agreement more clearly.

Those who are willing to obey orders and not act without permission can stay. After defeating the Yan invaders, they will receive a big reward.

If you are just here to join in the fun, then please come back, I will accept this love from Fujiwara Hidego."

Since these subordinates and warriors can take the initiative, it proves that they are indeed brave people. It is naturally impossible for such people to retreat at this time, and they all expressed their willingness to obey orders.

So Fujiwara Hidego struck while the iron was hot and immediately formed a regiment of these two thousand people, with him as the military leader, Taira Sadamori as the captain, and the brigade commander below, and the team was waiting for official positions.

Good guy, if in the Great Zhou Dynasty, a noble man dared to form an army privately while the army was marching, let alone himself, the whole family would lose their heads.

But in the Japanese country, this is extremely normal.

After the collapse of the bantian system, the army model formed by local police officers could not fight regular battles at all. Therefore, in critical moments, it is most effective to restore the army model of military yi - captain - brigade commander - team leader.

.....

When it comes to saying that heroes in the world should not be underestimated, Fujiwara Hidego and Hei Sadamori are really right.

After Murong Nobunaga led his army to force Tachibana Enho back to Osaka Castle, he immediately left Xiang Xun, who had not yet left to join the feudal clan, to hold on. The army also set up many banners and drums, and even pretended to build siege equipment.

But Murong Nobunaga himself led 5,000 cavalrymen composed of Murong Yanchao, Helian Hailong, Yuan Yanchao, Zhao Siwan, Zhang Jianxiong, Yelu Guizhong, Riluge and other powerful generals, quietly crossed Osaka Castle to attack the slaves.

The main force of the Japanese army returned from Kobe.

The reason why the fight was so risky was because Nobunaga also encountered a lot of trouble.

Ever since the army took the risk of crossing the sea in winter, the number of people with frostbite and colds in the army has increased day by day.

Before the conquest of Awaji Island, the number of people who were acclimatized began to increase. If it hadn't been for more than ten days of repairs on Awaji Island, the situation would have been even more serious.

Originally, Murong Nobunaga raised an army of 30,000 men and more than 10,000 sailors, totaling more than 40,000 people.

But now, in addition to the seven or eight thousand people stationed in Dazaifu, Akama Pass and Itsukushima, we can still have more than 20,000 people who are 100% healthy.

Among them, the weaker eight thousand were in the hands of Wang Jing and Li Hanqiong. Some of them were keeping an eye on Ono Haogu, and some of their elite cavalry were hovering behind the main force of the Japanese army.

Among the remaining 14,000 to 5,000 people, there are still 2,000 on Awaji Island, around Murong Nobunaga, that is, about 12 to 3,000 people.

In terms of number of people, Murong Nobunaga should have sent the fewest troops among the conquerors of all dynasties.

He came to conquer the Japanese country, and now he only had 12,000 to 3,000 troops available. However, except for Ono Haogu, who could not move, the Japanese army still had more than 70,000 people, and the number was still increasing.

At the same time, the Osaka Plain where Heian-kyo, Heijo-kyo, and Namba-kyo are located has a population of more than 700,000. At the last moment, it is possible to raise another 50,000 people.

Although the enemy is weak, it is still very troublesome when there are many of them.

It's not that you can't defeat them, but it's that it's difficult to control them after defeating them. If you can't control these populations effectively, you will fall into the quagmire of war.

Therefore, Murong Nobunaga, who had not personally gone into battle for a long time, personally led five thousand fine cavalry to attack the main force of the Japanese army, striving to completely defeat their administrative command capabilities in one battle.

....

The Yodogawa River loomed in the distance, and Fujiwara Hidego even heard the sound of the Yodogawa water flowing. As far as the eye could see, the green rice seedlings were undulating in the wind. It seemed like it was another good year.

Taira Sadamori also followed up on his horse. Seeing that the bridge over the Yodo River was still intact, he felt relieved immediately.

Namba Kyo, also known as Osaka, has a terrain low in the west and high in the east. As long as the army can return to the city, even if the outer city cannot be defended, the Mori-nomiya area in the east city has high terrain and a dense water network, which is enough to hold on.

Fujiwara Hidego pointed to a dense forest in the northeast and said, "If I remember correctly, there should be a small fortress there.

I also ask Lord Ping to lead 600 elite troops to camp, and someone to set up a stronghold around the bridge. As long as the Zuofu army returns to their positions, everything will be safe."

"Here!" At this time, the upper class of the Japanese people sang Tangyin. Pingzhensheng crossed his hands and sang "here", and he was immediately ready to lead people there.

However, before he had fully gathered all the knights under his command, he saw birds flying wildly in the dense forest, tree branches rustling despite the strong wind, and occasionally there was the faint sound of horse hooves.

Fujiwara Hidego was shocked, "It was almost dusk at this time, and the returning birds suddenly started to fly in the forest. There must be an army coming!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the thundering sound of horse hooves rang out, and countless silver-white figures suddenly rushed out from the woods in the northeast.

They wore silver-white cotton armor and silver battle robes, and held silver-white hard bows. They were like cranes with their arms outstretched, attacking from both sides.

"What a tall horse, what a speed!" Taira Sadamori's face turned pale, and he shouted to Fujiwara Hidego:

"The Yan invaders are here, and they are indeed the Shang Kingdom's cavalry. Warriors from the East Kingdom, follow me to intercept the enemy invaders!"

Having said that, Taira Sadamori, the leader, quickly put a piece of armor on his body. He gathered more than 300 cavalry and intercepted the roaring Yankou cavalry on the left flank, hoping to interrupt the opponent's offensive and build a knot for Fujiwara Hidego. Array creates time.
To be continued...