A tour of Japan's Warring States Period

Takeda Harunobu was a resourceful man. He also knew that the more than 20,000 people in the Yamauchi army had to take the main road and could not take the trail.

At the same time, even if Yamauchi Yoshiharu sent hundreds of people to attack from behind and enter Kawanaka Island. If we take a long detour and add infantry, we won't be able to get there even if it's dark, let alone evening.

But little did he know that Yamauchi Yoshiji was willing to risk his own money and gamble on the fate of the country. There are 500 horsemen in the Yisheng Division in the mountain, but there are 1,600 or 1,600 mules, horses and beasts of burden. Not only did everyone have a horse, but armor, weapons and other things were carried on horses, and the war horses were all just trotting to build up power.

Such a large-scale maneuver was possible except for Yamauchi Yoshiharu, who occupied the Minami Shinano horse-producing area and had more than 2,000 army pack horses. For a while, I couldn't find anyone in Japan who had this ability. 【Note 1】

Takeda Harunobu was just limited by the times. He had seen five hundred cavalry and surprise attacks. But he couldn't imagine it, and he had never seen a fast mobile battle that could mobilize a huge cavalry force of 500 riders and equipped with 1600 to 700 horses. (It’s so pitiful. The Ming army saw this kind of scene many times, and the cavalry was even ten times or even dozens of times larger.)

We modern people think this is such a simple and crude tactic, but in Japan's Warring States Period it was a rare or even unique strategy.

Of course, Yamauchi Yoshikatsu's shouts could not really stimulate Takeda Harunobu. The army of several thousand people around him had a solid camp and could not be defeated by a mere surprise attack team.

He had seen the combat effectiveness of the Yamauchi Army, and it was at best a 50-50 ratio. Unless Yamauchi Yoshiharu personally led tens of thousands of people to attack with all his strength, he would not be afraid at all.

What he was confused about was just how many of Yamauchi's troops had come since there were hundreds of iron artillery ashigaru attacking and it was Yoshikatsu Yamauchi who led the troops.

However, the rumble of horse hoofs quickly covered up the roar of the iron cannons. Yamauchi Yoshikatsu's iron cannons and horses only had sixty riders, even though one man had two guns, and some even had three guns per person. But the few rounds of volleys before the attack were all brought down, and none of the family servants who helped them load were brought along this time.

Takeda Harunobu is still directing the Xiaoxingzhong and Jinxizhong of his team to bring some manpower to stop them first. Then let Ishi Minbu and Hara Hayato deploy two troops to eat Yamauchi Yoshikatsu.

Before he finished his order, cheers like mountains and seas came from Chajiu Mountain not far away. Marunoue's horse mark with black stripes on a white background was cut down and replaced by Tobashi Bishamonten and Yamauchi Futikiryo.

Minamoto court minister Yamauchi Councilor Major General Sakonoe Yoshiharu goes into battle!

"Prime Minister Yamauchi? Impossible! How did he get here!" Takeda Harunobu couldn't believe it.

When Yamauchi Yoshikatsu's surprise team appeared, he was already extremely confused. Yamauchi Yoshiharu's team had actually arrived as well!

"Say hello to Prime Minister Yamauchi for me." Terutora Uesugi was also surprised. Before he stormed Murakami Yoshikiyo's team, he actually found that the Yamauchi army's vanguard, Hosokawa Minami, with high morale and sufficient physical strength, ran into the battlefield.

Compared to Takeda Harunobu, who sat back and watched success or failure, Hosokawa Saime was much more relaxed. After observing the situation, he cooperated with the Uesugi Army to launch an attack on the Chausuyama Murakami Army's main formation.

"My Highness will be arriving soon, and I have been sent to help His Highness, the Commander." Hosokawa Saime saluted Uesugi Teruhora.

Terutora Uesugi was naturally surprised that the Yamauchi army had enough energy and arrived at the battlefield of Kawanakajima at noon, but he didn't ask any questions and just came.

"Would you like to go down the mountain with me to join us in the battle of Jia Fei's feast?" "That's what you wish for! I'd like to have my tail!"

The two men hastily organized their troops and charged downwards.

Between them and Takeda Harunobu, there are actually 4,000 Murakami troops, but the 2,000 Nobushi soldiers are just a group of soldiers. The several hundred members of the Kiyono team and the more than 1,000 Yashiro team generals are not here, and the situation of Murakami Yoshikiyo is unclear. The formation is also in danger, and people are already panicking at this moment.

When the Marunouchi flag of the Chausuyama Murakami main formation fell with black stripes on a white background, the four thousand people collapsed.

The panicked Murakami defeated his troops. To the north was the roaring Uesugi army, to the west were the coalition forces of Yamauchi and Uesugi, to the south was the rising Chikuma River, and to the east was the "friendly army" Takeda Harunobu.

How can I run?

Relying on their good water skills, good health, and familiarity with the road, they ran south. The remaining three thousand people were like a herd of wildebeest migrating on the prairie, and they thoughtlessly collapsed towards the Takeda army.

Takeda Harunobu finally panicked, and the situation was far beyond his expectation. Two dogs fight, play off. It's a pity that he, a "fisherman", made a mistake in his calculations, a big mistake.

The Yamauchi army came so quickly, almost only half an hour later than him. And they immediately entered the battlefield, completely unlike an army after a long march.

"Hey!" The shogunate tent painted with Takeda Hisashi was suddenly opened.

"It was me, Murakami Sasuma Daiyoshi Yoshimitsu, who was the first to break into the Takeda main camp! Who will fight me!" Murakami Yoshimitsu, holding a spear in his majestic appearance, broke into the Takeda shogunate.

As if to match his shouting, one after another Yamauchi cavalry attacked Takeda's main formation.

The originally stable shogunate tent was trampled to pieces by war horses and was completely opened to the Yamauchi army. But this also made Takeda Harunobu see clearly that the cavalry of the Yamauchi Army was killing people. There is no infantry, they are all warriors with strong martial arts skills and well-equipped armor.

The original Hayato and Kagerai Ishiminbu immediately brought people up to attack the Yamauchi army and ordered the Takeda troops to work hard to rescue them. However, at this time, Takeda's left wing was attacked by more than 3,000 Murakami's defeated troops, and he was too busy to take care of himself.

The Morokaku, Hatsukano, Asari, and Amari teams on the right wing heard the main formation's call for support, and each began to break away from their formation and move toward the Takeda main formation.

The Suwa, Oi, and Sanada tribes that were originally attacking first left the Suwa tribe with the strongest force behind, and the other two troops also retreated without permission and headed towards the Takeda main formation.

Of course Takeda Harunobu is as immovable as a mountain, but he remains confident. It is said that Murakami Yoshimitsu has already invaded this formation, but in fact this formation is very large, and Murakami Yoshimitsu is at least thirty or fifty meters away from him. Coupled with the large number of Takeda soldiers, the entire army's formation is still stable at this moment. Even if Yamauchi Yoshikatsu enters the main formation, he can repel it.

However, Takeda Baizu kept reporting disturbing news one after another.

"The Takeda Norima team was attacked by Murakami's defeated troops. Their formation was in chaos and they were unable to fight."

“The same goes for the original Meinion team.”

"The right-wing teams began to support our formation." "Asshole, who asked them to move." Takeda Harunobu cursed when he heard this.

He completely forgot about the order he had just given to Hara Hayato to dispatch two teams of troops to eat Yamauchi Yoshikatsu.

"The Sanada and Oi teams who took the lead are also supporting our formation."

"The Naito team on the left wing has begun fighting with the Uesugi army."

Takeda Harunobu really couldn't figure it out. He obviously made sure every step, so where did he go wrong?

[Note 1]: Let’s talk about a sad thing. Uesugi Kenshin spent his whole life in the army, but he never fully controlled the Echigo horse trade until his death. The author once saw a document from the Rokkaku clan. The horses they imported from Echigo did not pay taxes to Uesugi Kenshin, which explains the problem.

In addition, in history, apart from Oribonoku and the other three daimyo who were able to carry out large-scale cavalry mobile warfare in the thousands, the only daimyo family was the Hojo family. In the Hojo clan's military service accounts, only the Iwatsuke Ohta clan mobilized 500 cavalry, and Sakura Zhong Chibaji also had hundreds of cavalry. The cavalry mobilization ability and the number of horses are rare in the country.