Chapter 28 Taking Orders
After the meeting, Sena Ujitoshi asked everyone to go to the barracks to rest for the night while he waited for further information and asked everyone to hold another evaluation meeting tomorrow morning.
After Yu Qiuping returned to the barracks, Charlie and his guards immediately greeted him.
Yu Qiupei took out a border map and probably repeated Sena Shitoshi's words.
"That's it." Yu Qiuping sighed, "Although Minghai City and Dagua City still have some remaining strength, Minghai City lacks food and grass, and Dagua City just suffered a disastrous defeat. In order to defend the city, it is no longer able to send troops to contain the Oda army.
.The Odaka Castle troops were almost completely wiped out, and the Matsudaira family of Okazaki Castle also suffered a disastrous defeat. Okazaki Castle is now an empty castle. After the Oda family won a complete victory on the 26th, there was no action on the 27th and 28th."
Yu Qiuping said nervously, "If they really have 2,000 soldiers, leave some to surround Kariya City and Anxiang City, and the main force will continue to advance. Maybe they can take Okazaki City in one attack." Yu Qiuping finished.
Mingshi Jun's pessimistic assessment of the war situation.
In fact, since the Oda family did not know that Narumi Castle's food supplies were in such a straitened state that they could not attack, they were very wary of Okabe Gennobu, who had a very high combat power, so they did not choose to attack boldly for fear of being cut off by Okabe Gennobu.
A way out.
"Are we going to the battlefield?" The guard, who had never been in battle before, was shaking a bit. Yu Qiuping patted his shoulder and comforted him, "It's okay. I guess we should focus on protecting Okazaki Castle.
"
Yu Qiuping suddenly discovered that after experiencing a war experience, he was now on the front line. He was no longer so nervous and could comfort others.
"Thompson, have you been on the battlefield before?" Yu Qiuping asked when he saw Charlie beside him wiping his longbow very calmly.
"I have never been on the battlefield before, but I have followed my father and fought against bandits, and I have killed people." Charlie said, "War is not that scary, so be careful to protect yourself."
"No matter what, let's get some sleep first." Yu Qiupei looked at the new black eye mask that Chibei put on, and smiled slightly, "The Oda family can't stay still forever, and the situation may change tomorrow.
"
For the assessment early the next morning, all two hundred soldiers were called in. Toshi Sena and his entourage with the crow hung a huge Owari map of the Mikawa border in the center of the castle tower's reception room.
"Until early this morning, I have not received any information about the Oda Army." Sena Ujitoshi's opening remarks made everyone present breathe a sigh of relief, but Sena Ujitoshi shook his head.
"This is not a good thing." Sena Ujitoshi said with a serious expression. "This can only mean that the scouts we sent out have not been able to detect the movements of the Oda army for some reason until now."
Place your right hand on the location of Okazaki Castle on the map, then draw a line horizontally to the left.
"We currently know nothing about the battlefield situation north of the Okazaki-Anxiang-Kariya line. The Oda family's cavalry has spread out a huge intelligence barrier, and our current scout force is tight and unable to penetrate.
"
"If the Oda family's goal this time is to seize the entire Mikawa," Sena Toshiro said, some people present showed disapproval. "Don't think this is impossible," Sena Toshiro glanced at
Those people, with their gentle and calm faces, exuded a powerful deterrence, "Once Okazaki Castle is lost, the communication between Toe and Nishi Mikawa will be immediately interrupted. Most of our troops in Toe have just been disbanded."
For the autumn harvest, Asahina-sama wants to assemble a force with a strength of 2,000 soldiers. It will take at least ten days. In ten days, among you here, who can guarantee that Nishi Mikawa can hold on?"
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
"Continuing, if the Oda family's goal is to seize Mikawa, they will definitely take Okazaki Castle as their target. Then they will attack Kariya Castle or Anxiang Castle from Okezama and through Tomitate. Anxiang Castle and Kariya Castle originally interacted with each other.
It is a powerful force, but now that there is a serious shortage of troops, it is very likely that they will be defeated one by one. The Oda family cannot be allowed to approach Kariya Castle and Anxiang Castle, because once these two castles are lost, Okazaki Castle will be unable to
If the danger is defensible, we may have to withdraw from Okazaki."
"So, the key point of this war is Chitate." Sena Shitoshi said loudly, while making a fist with his right hand, he punched the location of Chitate Castle heavily on the map.
Yu Qiuping's heart suddenly rose to his throat. Isn't that exactly... the city of more than two hundred slaves?
"And if the purpose of the Oda family is limited to attacking Takake Castle, Otaka Castle and Narumi Castle and regaining the lost territory of Owari, then our first goal is to restore contact with these two cities." Sena Ujitoshi said, "I said last night
We have sent people to take the Jumu and Fugu lines, bypassing the front line to contact Takake City. We have sent people to go to Edan and Nawa lines to contact Dagao City and Narumi City in an attempt to establish a new transportation line. But these two lines are too far away.
Information communication may not be timely and smooth enough.”
"So, the key is Chili," Sena Ujitoshi pointed to the location of Chili Castle, "If we can contact Takake Castle through Chili, we can keep the information flowing."
"Such a strategic location." Sena Ujitoshi complained a few times in his mind, "The governor not only refused to build a big city here, but also only sent slaves to garrison it. Now there is trouble."
"The Oda family can't fail to see what we have seen. They must also take capturing Chirit as an important goal in the next stage. However, there has been no news from Chirit Castle since the evening of the 26th. We don't even know about Chirit Castle now.
Whether it is still under the control of the Imagawa family, Chirit Castle has probably fallen."
Yu Qiuping suddenly felt dizzy again. He touched the more than two hundred letters from home in his package and felt that his chest was so nervous that he was about to explode. If more than two hundred people are in danger, how should I face those two hundred people?
More than a hundred families are grieving! No, I have to go to Zhili. I have to go to Zhili to see how they are doing.
"So we now need a small team to go to Chili to determine whether Chili has fallen. We are currently short of manpower and can only send 10 people there. Have any of you here been to Chili?"
"I've been there before." As soon as Sena Shitoshi finished speaking, Yu Qiuping stood up immediately, "I just went to Chili Castle not long ago and I'm very familiar with the route. Please leave this task to me."
Sena Shitoshi was stunned for a moment. Suddenly he remembered that this Yu Qiuping seemed to have come to Mikawa this time to bring family letters to the more than two hundred slaves in Chili. He looked at Yu Qiuping's red eyes and anxious look,
Still wanting to dissuade me, Yu Qiuping immediately clasped his fists and shouted: "Please be sure to leave this task to me!"
Sena Shijun hesitated for a while, and finally nodded.
"Okay, after the meeting, you can order ten people to come to my place."
Yu Qiuping had no memory of the next topic or what was being discussed. All he could think about was rushing to Zhili. Zhili had not fallen, and Zhili, who had more than two hundred slaves alive and well, handed the family letter to them.
Go up and tell them everything is fine at home.
It seemed that there was a very dangerous mission. The little man who was very excited on the road, like Yu Qiuping, stood up and took the initiative to volunteer and won the mission.
After the evaluation, Yu Qiuping took Charlie, Senbei, and the few people he helped select with the crow, and went to the temporary office of Sena Ujitoshi on the second floor of the castle tower.
"Kongye-kun, are you really okay?" Sena Shitoshi asked with concern, "You have no combat experience before."
"Sir, please leave it to me. I'm really in a hurry." Yu Qiuping swallowed, "I believe I can handle it."
"You may encounter life-threatening dangers," Sena Ujitoshi added.
"I'm not afraid. I've already killed my friend because I was afraid of death. I will regret it for the rest of my life," Yu Qiuping said in a deep voice, "I don't want to do it again."
"Well, if you have made up your mind." Sena Shitoshi sighed, "Besides, Hongye-kun himself is also extremely talented, so I feel more at ease with you to carry out this issue."
"My Hatamoto samurai is called Amano Keitoku. He is 30 years old this year. He is a veteran who has been on many battlefields. He has rich experience and is very decisive. I asked him to go with you." Sena Ujitoshi introduced the man next to him.
He always had a gloomy face and no expression, and was accompanied by a crow. "His crow can deliver messages. If the conditions do not allow you to come back to report the message at that time, let the crow replace the carrier pigeon and come back with the message. On the battlefield, crows are far more powerful than
Pigeons come safely.”
"Listen carefully, we will arrange your departure at four o'clock in the morning." Sena Ujitoshi said, "You follow the official road to Chili Castle. Since we have not received any news from Chili Castle now, it is very likely that the channel
There are already cavalry from the Oda Army blocking the transmission of information, and you are likely to be ambushed. If conditions really do not allow it, just retreat. Don't take risks."
"Yes." Everyone responded in unison.
"If you can reach Chili Castle, no matter what the situation is, give me a crow report. Then you can make your own judgment based on the specific situation whether to evacuate with the Chili City defenders or to hold on."
"However, if you find the Oda family's horse and horse cavalry nearby, please give up any plans to retreat." Sena Shitoshi said in a deep voice, "The horse and horse cavalry are Oda Nobunaga's elite guards.
About 100 horsemen. With such a number of cavalry, there is no hope of retreat."
"Why, sir, there are more than two hundred people in Zhili City." Yu Qiuping asked puzzledly.
As soon as the question came out, several warriors nearby who had been on the battlefield looked at Yu Qiuping in surprise.
"One horse can take ten steps. This is never a lie," Sena Ujitoshi explained. "When fighting on the plains, a charge of these 100 cavalry is enough to destroy 1,000 ashigaru who are not well trained."
"I see there are many iron-tipped bamboo spears in Zhili City, which can be used to restrain the cavalry." Yu Qiuping said naturally.
"Do you want to use pikemen to stop the cavalry from charging into the formation?" Sena Ujitoshi smiled bitterly, "In our Imagawa family, I am afraid that only the flag corps of the family governor, Asahina-sama and Okabe-sama can do it. My flag corps can also do it.
You can reluctantly try, but they are still in Yuanjiang and have not brought it."
"How easy is it for a spearman to stop a cavalry charge? Indeed, if you thrust out your spear firmly, you can kill a horse or rider, but when the opponent collides with you at a high speed, the spearman himself will never be spared." Toshi Sena Ushiji
Explained, "If the cavalry maintains a group charge, it will have a huge momentum. Generally, ashigaru plowing during the busy farming season and going out during the off-farming period have serious lack of training, lack of willpower, and no determination to die with the enemy. In the cavalry
When charging, you will instinctively dodge. If you dodge, let alone lose your life, you will not even be able to save your life. You will be ruined by the condescending and high-speed attack of the cavalry. A team of pikemen only needs three or four people to dodge.
Once the enemy is hit, a large number of cavalry will flow in and massacre the helpless ashigaru at high speed. A team of pikemen will also be destroyed."
"Even a group of determined pikemen dares to trade lives with the cavalry to prevent the opponent's charge that breaks the formation. If there is no cavalry to cover the flanks, once the opponent's cavalry changes direction and detours to your flank to charge before you adjust your formation,
There is still no way for the troops to be spared. So, don’t expect to take those two hundred slaves to fight against the horses in the field, even if there are only twenty or so people on the opposite side." Sena Ujitoshi watched Yu Qiuping's face change.
It was getting worse and worse, so I could only sigh. "There is nothing we can do about it."
"In war, the vast majority of casualties occur in the pursuit after the war." Sena Ujitoshi continued, "Generally, semi-professional soldiers like Ashigaru have 10% casualties, and some good ones have 20%.
Due to low morale and incomplete battle lines, they began to retreat. At this time, if we can keep the organization intact and retreat, we will not suffer too much loss in the end."
"But if unfortunately the team collapses and the organization is in chaos, it will turn into a massacre." Sena Shitoshi said with lingering fear, "The collapsed team has no organization at all, no one is willing to cover their companions, and in the end everyone is thrown away together.
Armored weapons, fleeing in fear. Generally, when such a great rout occurs, only those at the front can run back to safety. Those at the back are always confused, crowded with each other, not knowing where they are running, and just follow
The whole group ran together. In the end, they exhausted all their strength pointlessly and did not run very far. They were overtaken by the enemy and killed."
"If the enemy has cavalry, it will be even more tragic," Sena Ujitoshi added. "High-speed mobile cavalry can easily catch up with the fleeing ashigaru and kill them. If there are hundreds of cavalry on the battlefield, if the defeated side can
It would be better to maintain the formation to deter the cavalry, or let your own cavalry cover the ashigaru retreat, but if it turns into a rout, these hundreds of cavalry will make it impossible for even one of the thousands of ashigaru to escape."
"Having said so much, I just want to tell you," Sena Shitoshi sighed, "Don't expect to fight in the field with the horsemen or retreat in front of the horses."
"Sir, what should we do if we encounter a crowd of horses on the way forward?" Amano Keide suddenly asked.
"Retreat quickly. The ten of you are no match for the Mother Clothes. There is little hope of a forced breakthrough." Sena Shitoshi said. Everyone's expressions darkened slightly, as if they had lost confidence.
Chapter completed!