Japan's Warring States Period: The Rise of the Wakasa Tiger

Chapter 33: One Rider
The noisy sound at the foot of the mountain soon attracted the attention of Asakura Kageki, who was commanding the battle. Coupled with the rising smoke in the main castle, he felt an ominous premonition.

"Jubei, take a team of foot soldiers and go see if anything happened at the main camp." Asakura Kageki said to the samurai general beside him.

"Ha!" The samurai, whose full name was Matsumoto Jubei Heizo, immediately led more than 20 foot soldiers and ran along the mountain road towards the main camp.

But not long after, Matsumoto Heizo returned to the mountainside panting and reported to Asakura Keinori in panic:
"My lord, something terrible has happened! Our formation..."

"What's wrong with the main camp?" Asakura Kageki suddenly felt something was wrong, grabbed Matsumoto Heizo's shoulder and asked anxiously.

"Our main camp was ambushed by the Takeda army, and all our food and supplies... were burned..." Matsumoto Heizo reported tremblingly.

"A sneak attack? All the food supplies were burned?!" Asakura Kageki felt dizzy for a moment, staggering left and right a few times, and was about to fall. Fortunately, Matsumoto Heizo caught him in time.

"How many people are there in the Takeda army?" Asakura Kageki asked hurriedly after finally coming to his senses.

"The fire was too big. I only have more than 20 men under my command. I dare not approach to investigate. But there must be at least 300 to 500 men. Otherwise, how could they defeat the troops we left behind?"

"Asshole, you dare to come back without even seeing it clearly." Asakura Keiki scolded angrily.

"I am incompetent, please forgive me, my lord." Matsumoto Heizo bowed and apologized, and then suggested to Asakura Kageki: "Now our camp has been attacked, and the situation is unclear. Please mobilize the army to retake our camp as soon as possible, otherwise our army will be caught in a situation where we will be attacked from both sides by the Takeda army."

"Take back the main camp?" Asakura Kageki couldn't help but hesitate. "If we divide our forces to seize the main camp, we won't have enough troops to continue attacking Kitakururu. But if we insist on attacking, now that we have lost our food and supplies, our army's morale has been shaken. Even if we capture Akururu, we won't be able to attack the main camp further."

After much deliberation, Asakura Kageki finally decided to suspend the attack and retreat back to the foot of the mountain. At the same time, he sent an envoy to Sada Town and asked Yamazaki Yoshiie to lead his troops to escort food and fodder for support.

"Beat the drums to call back the troops. The vanguard will become the rear guard, and everyone should prepare to return to the main camp along the original route!" After saying this, Asakura Kageki ordered the Taiko drums to be beaten, and the Asakura army began to turn around and retreat down the mountain.

"My lord, the enemy has retreated!" On the top of the Honmaru Tower, the samurai next to Katsuhisa Kuriya said excitedly, pointing to the mountainside.

The worry on Katsuhisa Kuriya's face eased a little, but he still maintained a cautious attitude:

"Send a message to Goroemon (Kuriya Katsuie) to retreat along the mountain ridge to Iwade Mountain Fort to avoid fighting with the main enemy forces; Hokugawa Jinsaburo's troops should take a shortcut to ambush the enemy. Remember to focus on killing small groups of troops and do not fight to the death."

"Ha!" The warrior immediately climbed down from the well tower and went forward to deliver the order.

At this moment, the Asakura army was preparing to retreat carefully from the mountainside to the bottom of the mountain in the form of a long snake formation from different mountain roads. Although Asakura Kageki was nervous, he remained relatively calm. He knew that the more times like this, the more he could not panic, so as not to be exploited by the Takeda army.

Not long after the army marched down the mountain, suddenly, a rustling sound was heard from the woods on both sides of the mountain road. Matsumoto Heizo, who was leading an army, felt something was strange, and was about to send someone to investigate when dozens of arrows shot out from the woods, and in a blink of an eye, several Asakura soldiers were shot and fell to the ground.

Matsumoto Heizo was also hit by several arrows, but fortunately, with the protection of the throat chakra (a component on the armor that protects the neck), the arrow shot at his neck was bounced away, and he was not fatally injured.

"It's an enemy attack!" Matsumoto Heizo shouted in a panic: "All troops, form a battle array, and prepare to fight!"

It happened in a flash. Before he could finish his words, more than a hundred foot soldiers with "four-cut diamond" and "stone-holding five-bone fan" flags on their backs, holding bamboo spears, led by dozens of samurai wearing belly rolls and contemporary armor, rushed out from the woods on both sides with a roar. The already narrow mountain road was instantly filled with swords and blood.

"Asakura boy, come and see if my blade is sharp!" A middle-aged warrior who was not tall but strong was slashing left and right in the crowd, very conspicuous. In a short while, several warriors of the Asakura army became the victims of his sword. "Do you dare to fight me!" In order to curb the offensive and momentum of the Takeda army, Matsumoto Heizo rushed to the middle-aged general and roared to attract the other side's attention.

"Haha, kid, do you dare to tell me your name?!" the middle-aged general sneered.

"The general serving under Tsuruga County, Matsumoto Jubei Heizo!"

"I am Torii Jinzaburo Heiji, a subordinate of Kuriya Genbei of Kuniyoshi Castle!"

Only then did Matsumoto Heizo realize that the general in front of him was the Kuriya clan's general Torii Heiji who had just shouted and provoked him in Hokugururu.

"It turns out to be Lord Heiji. I am the chief general of the Asakura family who just attacked Kitakururu!" Matsumoto Heizo said with a smile.

"Very good! Come over here, kid!" As he said that, Torii Heiji took a stance, waiting for Matsumoto Heizo to attack him.

Matsumoto Heizo brandished a two-foot-long katana and ran towards Torii Heiji, who rushed forward with his naginata to meet the attack. In a flash, the blades flew and the sound of breaking through the air continued. The two of them attacked and defended in turns, and at first neither of them could gain an absolute advantage.

But as time passed, Torii Heiji felt that it was not advisable to fight for a long time, so he pretended to be exhausted and retreated step by step.

Thinking that the time had come, Matsumoto Heizo seized the opportunity, raised his sword and leaped to chop at Torii Heiji. Seeing this, Torii Heiji leaned back, drew his katana from his waist, and with the cooperation of his naginata, chopped at Matsumoto Heizo's abdomen like a flash of lightning.

"Puchi!" The katana accurately pierced through the gap in the armor and went straight into Matsumoto Heizo's abdomen, and blood splattered everywhere in an instant!

"Well done, you are a worthy opponent!" Torii Heiji walked breathlessly to the dying Matsumoto Heizo, took off his hood, raised his knife and slashed, separating his head and body.

"Matsumoto Jubei Heizo has been captured by me, Torii Jinzaburo!" Torii Heiji grabbed Matsumoto Heizo's hair bun and raised his head above his head. The Asakura army that was fighting at the time was terrified when they saw this.

"Hoohoo!"

"Hey!"

The morale of the Takeda army was greatly boosted, and the battle, which had been in a tense situation, began to quickly tilt towards the Takeda army.

"Master Heizo has been taken, why are we still fighting?!"

"Run quickly, saving your life is the most important thing!"

When a tree falls, monkeys scatter; when a wall falls, everyone pushes it down. With the death of Matsumoto Heizo, the Asakura army fled in all directions under the attack of the Takeda army. Many were seriously injured and surrendered. The narrow mountain road was littered with corpses and blood flowed like a river. The Asakura army, which was still arrogant and domineering a few hours ago, now only had the thought of madly escaping.

Thanks to Ultraman for the generous reward; thanks to yangengg, my rotten cat, T, kingleo, we are not playing the same game, and hehewei's vest for the reward and monthly tickets; thanks to friends such as Daidai Map, Suguan Suchen, and Dark Flying Man for their recommendations; thanks to friends such as Danbo, Earl Amethyst, and Dashan Mengleyoumeng for their wonderful comments.

You can leave a message directly if you think of any character, I will read it, it is best if there is a certain background source~
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(End of this chapter)