Chapter 1251: Famous General's Achievements, Liu Shiba's Memories
Regarding Mouri Katsunaga and Sanada Yukimura, who was Japan's number one soldier in the decisive battle between the Toyotomi family and the Tokugawa family in the Battle of Osaka, Liu Shiba had no intention of going into detail.
All he needs to know is that these two people were definitely brave and resourceful generals at that time.
Yukimura Sanada became famous probably because he had a good father, Masayuki Sanada.
Although the army led by Mori Katsunaga has superior combat power, it cannot match Tokugawa Ieyasu's last comment: Sanada Yukimura is the best soldier in the world...
According to real historical documents, the Battle of Osaka was the last glory of the Toyotomi family.
Among the ronin samurai who entered Osaka Castle, Mouri Katsunaga was a descendant of the Toyotomi family.
This extraordinary status gave Katsunaga Mori a higher status among the five people in Osaka Castle.
However, Mouri Katsunaga was cautious and always remained humble. Like other generals, he fought silently until the last moment.
Mouri Katsunaga's status as a Genedai retainer is because his biological father is Mouri Katsinobu, whose duty is to serve Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and finally became a Fudai retainer.
Mouri Katsunobu was initially an ordinary military commander under the great demon king Oda Nobunaga, and then was sent as a follower under Hideyoshi, who was also named Kinoshita Tokichiro.
At that time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's status was relatively low, he was just a junior general. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi finally conquered the world, Mouri Katsunobu gained attention as a humble retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
The status of the Mori family skyrocketed, and they finally obtained the territory of Bunzen Ogura's 140,000 koku. Then the adult Mouri Katsunaga was also awarded a reward of 40,000 koku from Bunzen.
However, in the subsequent Battle of Sekigahara, where the Tokugawa forces and Toyotomi forces faced off, the Mori family chose to side with Ishida Mitsunari's Eastern Army in order to repay Toyotomi Hideyoshi's kindness.
It's a pity that the Eastern Army was defeated miserably in the Battle of Guanyuan!
After the defeat, Mori and his son were exiled to Kato Masakichi's territory for thirteen years and suffered a tragic fate.
At this point, no one knows the name Katsunaga Mori and the Mori family, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's retainers...
Historically, the day that Mouri Katsunaga became famous all over the world was the same day that Sanada Yukimura became the last military commander!
That day, five people from Toyotomi's side stood out for their bravery and proficiency in fighting!
But in the end, only two people were the most famous and were admired and worshiped by many people in later generations!
One is Yukimura Sanada and the other is Katsunaga Mori!
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That day, the morning of May 7, 1615 in history!
During the Warring States Period in Japan, the Toyotomi family and the Tokugawa family fought in the final battle to determine the ownership of the world.
The field battle with the largest number of participants and the largest scale will take place on the south side of Osaka Castle, where the defense is weakest.
There is a huge disparity in the deployment of troops between the offensive and defensive sides:
To the north of the battlefield is the Toyotomi army led by five people!
Among them, there are only 4,000 people in Mouri Katsunaga's department and 3,500 people in Sanada Yukimura's department...
Including the Toyotomi garrison of other military commanders and retainers, the total strength of the Osaka Castle side is only 40,000!
As for the attack on Tokugawa on the south side of Osaka, there was a coalition of many daimyo called in, with a total strength of more than 120,000 people!
The troop configuration is three times different!
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Liu Shiba closed his eyes quietly, recalling the glorious achievements of Maori Katsunaga...
The decisive battle at Osaka Castle began at noon on May 7, 1615!
The Tokugawa side's vanguard banner, Honda Tadakatsu's son, Honda Tadashi, led two thousand banner infantry, and took the lead in launching an attack on the Toyotomi side - the position where Mori Katsunaga was stationed!
Mori Katsunaga immediately led 3,500 bannermen and bravely accepted the challenge!
The battle had just begun. Since Osaka Castle's arms equipment was at a disadvantage and there was a serious shortage of muskets and ammunition, Katsunaga Mori ordered to avoid fighting for the time being.
Mouri Katsunaga ordered the front of the army to quietly retreat and move to both sides.
He concentrated the small iron artillery teams on both sides to form a crescent moon formation, luring Honda Tadashi's army to blindly rush into the small encirclement...
Subsequently, a counterattack was launched...
Maori Katsunaga waited for Honda Tadashi's army to advance to 100 meters before ordering the whole army to fire a salvo of iron artillery. Honda's army was directly defeated by more than a hundred people. The Maori army's victory in the first battle greatly boosted their morale.
Immediately afterwards, Mouri Katsunaga gave an order and personally led the cavalry of his team and rushed into Honda Tadashi's main formation with his sword drawn.
The Maori army suddenly attacked in this wave, attacking quickly and killing the enemy troops to a point where they were unable to prevent their formations from being disrupted.
Upon seeing this, the famous general Tadashi Honda had to mount his horse to fight in person. Holding his father Tadakatsu Honda's famous Japanese gun "Dragonfly Kiri", he roared and rushed towards Katsunaga Mori.
Honda Tadashiro, the youngest son of Honda Tadakatsu, who was once called "the best warrior in the world" by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, also inherited his father's bravery!
Unfortunately, during the confrontation between the two armies, only one of them met, Tadashi Honda, who was beheaded by Mouri Katsunaga's army and his head was taken...
It can be seen from this that Maori Katsunaga had extraordinary strategies and the Maori army he led was brave and brave.
The war has undergone a slight reversal!
As Honda Tadashi was defeated and collapsed, the troops of Akita Miuki and Asano Nagashige, totaling 2,000 men, were also defeated by the army led by Mori Katsunaga.
Mori Katsunaga led 3,500 men and defeated the headquarters of three generals, totaling 4,000 men...
In other respects, the Osaka Army also launched a siege against the extremely powerful Ogasawara Army among the Tokugawa Army at this time, but they were unable to break through!
However, Mouri Katsunaga's unique vision allowed him to discover a fighter opportunity!
Because there was a small, unobvious flaw in the Ogasawara army, Katsunaga Mori secretly ordered an iron artillery unit of his unit to sneak around the weak spot on the left side of the Ogasawara army and fire a fatal volley...
"boom!"
The general of the Ogasawara team was shot with a black gun while fighting with a gun!
After the death of the general, the Ogasawara army undoubtedly fell into chaos...
Ogasawara Hidemasa died that night after suffering six serious injuries. The Ogasawara army was completely defeated because of the loss of its general.
Mori Katsunaga's army defeated four armies of famous generals in succession, and their morale was like a rainbow!
Subsequently, the brutal Mouri Katsunaga's troops attacked again and defeated Hoshina Masamitsu's troops.
The fifth time, Mori Katsunaga led his headquarters of 3,500 banners to defeat the Tokugawa troops who were arrayed to fight. The total number was close to 20,000, but his own damage was less than 500!
At this time, Mori Katsunaga's undefeated record made Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was watching the battle at the main camp, and other important ministers stunned and in disbelief!
Subsequently, Tokugawa Ieyasu angrily assigned troops from other daimyo to launch a layer-by-layer blockade and siege against Mori Katsunaga's troops!
However, failure still cannot be prevented!
The generals of the Tokugawa Army: Sakakibara Yasukatsu, Sengoku Tamasa, Suwa Tadahashi and other armies were also defeated one after another under the desperate assault of Mori Katsunaga's army...
The Tokugawa army's shocking defeat spread like an infectious disease...