Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

In the days before radio, even Napoleon, when he fought Waterloo, could only share a general strategy with his marshals before the battle. The rest depended entirely on the performance, cooperation, and even the occasional stroke of genius from his generals.

In the Battle of Marengo, Napoleon would have been defeated long ago had it not been for Desai's valiant fighting. Even when the two were more than ten kilometers apart, Napoleon's victory wasn't entirely based on Desai's assessment of the battlefield.

Go to war!

The Takeda army, having rested and prepared, was not concerned about whether to attack early or late. Seeing that the Oda and Tokugawa armies made no move in the morning, they remained motionless. With the advantageous terrain of the Mikatagahara Plateau and the control over Hamamatsu Castle, Takeda Shingen already held a 60% chance of victory. If the Oda-Tokugawa allied forces launched an attack, their chances would be 70%.

With a 70% chance of winning, tell me how you could possibly lose!

Sensing the wind direction, Takeda Shingen immediately understood why the Oda army wasn't attacking. He simply smiled and told his soldiers to calmly start a fire and cook miso soup, so they could have a good bowl of hot soup before engaging in battle.

The Oda army below Taihara were also cooking. They were preparing for a fierce battle that would last four to six hours that afternoon, and they couldn't afford to be hungry. At this point, forget about five cups of rice per person; as long as you could eat, no one would stop you.

Once they were full, they had to risk their lives to carry spears for Lord Nobunaga and break through Takeda Shingen's great formation; a few cups of rice were really nothing.

"Why are my palms sweating?" Shichibei asked, holding a wooden bowl. It was hard to tell if the sweat was from the hot soup or from nervousness.

"Is there saliva in your mouth?" Oda Nobuhiro had no sons; Shichibei was his son-in-law, so there were some things he could teach him.

Before the battle, Nobunaga positioned his elder brother, Oda Nobuhiro, at the last line of defense in front of the main camp, alongside Shichibei's unit which had joined the main camp. In this decisive battle between two top-tier powerful lords, Nobunaga felt most at ease having his brother at the forefront.

If Ikeda Tsuneoki were alive, he would have taken that position. However, Ikeda Tsuneoki was in Okazaki, ensuring Nobunaga's future. This was a very important position, and it had to be filled by a trusted confidant.

"You know what, it really is." Shichibei swallowed hard.

"Then you're a good soldier." Oda Nobuhiro was a veteran; when he was captured by Zen Master Taiyuan Xuezhai in Ansho Castle, he was completely stunned.

Forget about saliva in his mouth; his mind was completely blank, and he couldn't even recall committing seppuku. But he was only sixteen; it's not fair to be too harsh on a sixteen-year-old captured like that. Historically, he ultimately died defending Nobunaga, proving that people can grow and mature.

"Ha, I'm actually a good soldier?" Shichibei didn't expect his father-in-law to have such a high opinion of him.

“How can it not count?” Oda Nobuhiro gazed at the Mikatagahara Plateau in the distance. The midday sun was very bright, and he could see that the Takeda army had already set up fences on the slope of Oyamasaka.

Come to think of it, if there is an opportunity to prepare the battlefield in advance, then digging trenches, erecting fences, or even launching a small-scale campaign to build a city on the battlefield would all be reasonable.

The Takeda army arrived two days earlier. On the first day, they dug trenches, and on the second day, they erected a fence, which became known as the Kagaki (Deer Gate). What if they waited until the third day? Then the legendary tale of Mikatagahara's one-day castle battle would have unfolded in Japanese history.

What kind of person is Shingen? He has won many battles and lost many battles. He has occupied three sides and could have made arrangements.

"What about Shikagaki?" With his newfound father right there, Shichibei decided to ask.

"It's just a deer enclosure; we can move it. With a generous reward, there will surely be brave men."

Wow, that's easy to say. But thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. This is probably one of only two eras in the next five hundred years in Japan where one could change their status. In this day and age, even if you're just a lowly soldier, as long as you can charge into the Takeda army's gate and survive, Nobunaga will definitely recruit you as an ashigaru.

If you manage to cut off a head, the credit might not go to a lowly soldier like you, but if you're lucky enough to get a decent foot soldier general, your life will take off.

Look at Nobunaga's foot soldiers, like Hachiya Yoritaka, Kanamori Nagachika, and even his older brother Hideyoshi served as a centurion foot soldier commander for Nobunaga. Or maybe you become a musket foot soldier, and the musket generals are Maeda Toshiie and Sassa Narimasa. In the future, when Nobunaga suddenly dies and becomes a barbecue, you'll be a retainer in his estate, just a sergeant below him.

Your descendants can enjoy three hundred years of peace and happiness; it all depends on whether you are willing to move the deer wall in front of you now.

This is a golden age for upward mobility, a time of immense opportunity compared to other eras, akin to the opening of a floodgate.

"Who goes first?" Shichibei wasn't there at the pre-battle mobilization meeting; he was in charge of steaming rice balls for everyone.

"Three dans to start with, the first dan Inaba Hikoshiro, the second dan Koichiro Hashiba, and the third dan Kamao Sahei Dafu (Kenhide)." Oda Nobuhiro answered immediately.

"Huh?" It's one thing for Inaba Yoshimichi and Gamo Kensuke to be here, but why is Hidenaga here too?

Thinking about it, that makes sense. Part of Hideyoshi's territory was still in Sunomata. Hideyoshi himself was involved in the siege and conquest of Ashikaga Yoshiaki's Makishima Castle in Sakata County, north of the Kobe River, but he did need to send troops from his territory in Mino to accompany Nobunaga in the battle.

With over 30,000 people gathered, they still hadn't noticed our brother-in-law. Why didn't he even think to say hello?

It wasn't that Hidenaga didn't want to greet him; he was just incredibly nervous, even more so than Shichibei. He was originally Hideyoshi's chief logistics officer and also guarded the main camp. But now, because Hideyoshi was in the Mino territory, he had to lead the troops. He was constantly spinning like a top, so there was no way he had time to go find Shichibei, who hadn't initially joined the army.

Shichibei only joined his unit after Nobunaga arrived at Yoshida Castle, meaning they were only there for three days in total.

As for the initial attack, it consisted of 2,500 men, divided into three waves. Ōyamasaka was only so wide; this was already considered the best area for a large army to launch a fierce assault. Other narrow passages were too narrow for even three people to pass side-by-side. The Takeda army sent three spear-wielding foot soldiers, who thrust them into the passages, making even the most dreadful enemy tremble.

"What, feeling sorry for your brother-in-law?" Oda Nobuhiro knew what Shichibei was thinking.

"Woo woo woo, woo woo woo woo woo~~~" Just then, the sound of conch shells signaling the advance of the vanguard came from the front lines. The sound of the conch shells was continuous, urging the vanguard army to set off.

Inaba Yoshimichi, Hashiba Hidenaga, and Gamo Kenshū, leading the charge, waved their banners and surged towards Sakamae. The generals didn't shout any nonsense; they offered whatever reward they could get for being the first to reach the enemy, and whatever reward they could get for beheading an enemy general. If they obtained the head of a general, it would be a hereditary title.

Seriously, there's still a sliver of business ethics these days. You kill someone, I pay you, money settles between us, no cheating the young or old.

The second wave of commanders, Sakai Etsunaka no Kami, Seki Seiji, and Fuwa Mitsuharu, also began to mobilize, lining up with the first wave for pre-battle pep talks. Anyone could tell that given the typical poor quality of the Sengoku period battles in Japan, the probability of a successful attack from a lower position against a higher one, especially with the presence of the high ground like the Kagaki Pass, was extremely low.

Even with the promise of a great reward, the vast majority of soldiers still slack off.

It's easy to understand. After the reform and opening up, even just buying eggs from the village and selling them in the city could generate a profit. Buying clothes from Wenzhou and selling them in Anhui could make you tens of thousands of yuan and allow you to build a small villa within a year or two.

Taking that step is incredibly difficult, extremely difficult. Similarly, if you can earn a guaranteed five or eight strings of cash a year by simply fishing, regardless of drought or flood, why would you risk your life to earn that merit? It's no joke to earn it but not live to enjoy it.

Groups of troops surged forward, only to crumble under the resistance of the Takeda army. Fortunately, no one was demanding a swift victory; the various units continued their relentless assault. As long as the attacks were sustained closely enough, there was no chance the Takeda clan might make a mistake, and the Ōyama-zaka would be breached.

Once we've breached the slope and entered Mikatagahara, it'll be a direct confrontation, nothing difficult about that. Oda Nobunaga has fought countless battles; it's just a bunch of reckless fighting.

"Doesn't our lord have a big iron cannon? Take it up and blast it!" Shichibei was a little too far away to see clearly.

"I haven't even gone up yet, and I've already been called out." Oda Nobuhiro, who wasn't assigned to go first, was also watching.

The large iron cannon, also known as the "serving cannon" or "big cannon," was enormous. It took a strong soldier to carry it up, or two people to lift it up together, before it was loaded and fired.

In that time, even if the Takeda army on Sakagami didn't focus their arquebus fire on this man, the samurai guarding Kagaki would have used their bows and arrows to pick him off one by one. There were quite a few skilled archers among the samurai at that time, especially since the Takeda clan had gathered a group of samurai from Shinano who were good at archery, so it wouldn't be difficult to pick off a man's head on the battlefield.

"Is this how you play it?" Shichibei told Oda Nobuhiro, "Since we're attacking upwards anyway, let's find a few fearless guys to charge forward carrying oil tanks covered in mud. As long as we can smash the oil tanks onto Shikagaki, it'll be a success, and then we'll send a volley of rockets at the rest of them."

Whether the fire destroys Luyuan or not is irrelevant; a success is enough to make it impossible for anyone to stay near Luyuan. Even during wartime, putting out a fire isn't easy. Let them enjoy a little barbecue beforehand.

Oda Nobuhiro glanced at Shichibei, but unfortunately Nobunaga wasn't around; he was on a small mound about twenty meters high a little behind. He immediately sent someone to ask, "Is this alright?"

In the time it took to make the round trip, Gamo Kensuke had already seen retreating from the mountain slope. Judging from the looks of it, he had lost more than ten men. He had certainly put in a lot of effort; with more than a dozen men dying in the attack, this year's blood tax had been paid.

Nobunaga agreed, ordering Shichibei to hand over all the oil cans from the rear guard to Sakai Etsunaka (Sakai Masahiro's son). Anyone willing to carry an oil can forward would receive 500 coins on the spot. Those who threw the oil cans into the Shikagaki and returned would receive another 500 coins; those who didn't throw any in, well, that was it.

Having cash makes things easier. Dozens of foot soldiers picked up the oil canisters, some without even sealing them, just stuffing a piece of burlap around the spout, and rushed forward with Sakai Etsukuni.

With a series of crackling sounds, more than thirty oil jugs were smashed into the rooster's back. Of course, several foot soldiers ran up to the enemy and were stabbed right through the heart.

Pretty good.

This saved Nobunaga 500 mon.

The archers following behind fired fire arrows without hesitation, and a fire broke out instantly. Actually, rapeseed oil and soybean oil burn quite slowly. However, if they were to fire a volley of arquebuses in addition to the fire arrows, which would help heat the oil, it would be much easier for it to catch fire.

The Takeda army at Kagaki immediately jumped up in alarm, and their formation crumbled.

Chapter 271 Amidst the Chaotic Battle, the Battle of Shangyuan

Seeing smoke and fire rising on one side of the Ōyamasaka, Tokugawa Ieyasu was overjoyed. His brother in Owari was fighting hard against the Takeda army, and now it was his turn to send out his five hundred warriors from Mikawa.

Ōsuga Yasutaka stepped forward, declaring that he would go first in this battle, serving as the spearhead and ensuring that the Tokugawa family would not be disgraced in front of Gifu-dono.

good good!

"Charge together! We have selected 350 elite soldiers, equipped with the finest armor, each armed with a sword and spear. Afterwards, none of the other units should be afraid. Tokugawa Ieyasu himself will lead the charge, right in the middle of the third engagement."

We're still in the startup phase. If you're a coward when starting a business, it won't succeed. You have to personally wield a spear, ride a horse, and charge forward, shouting "Follow me!" Those who only yell "Attack!" are doomed.

No one around them felt anything was wrong. Faced with Takeda Shingen's all-out attack, why not fight now?

The roused Tokugawa army, under the fierce attack of Tokugawa Makai's elite troops, advanced with archers firing arrows, while arquebusiers fired only one shot before switching to katana. They made no attempt at long-range firepower; it was all hand-to-hand combat.

Even the Takeda army facing them was somewhat bewildered, because even an army like the Takeda, skilled in and fond of hand-to-hand combat, would usually test the waters with firepower first. These days, it wasn't uncommon, or rather, most armies could collapse during the initial firepower projection phase.

If you can win without losing anyone, why risk your life in hand-to-hand combat right from the start? Oyamada Nobushige, who was in charge of the troops, immediately ordered the throwing of stones. Fist-sized stones pelted the Tokugawa soldiers in front of him, some even hitting the eyes of the demons, which would most likely cause their eyeballs to burst.

Aside from muffled groans and the dull thuds of stones hitting flesh, the Tokugawa army did not stop at all, and continued to advance rapidly towards the top of the Sakata Slope with their swords and spears.

Two phrases instantly flashed into Nobushige Oyamada's mind: "a cornered beast will fight to the death" and "even a tiger must exert its full strength to hunt a rabbit." The ancients were right. But Oyamada's army of two thousand men had rolled around in the quagmire of Konobu and Kanto countless times, and had seen even the most dangerous situations.

Back then, when the four Hojo brothers attacked from all sides, Uesugi Kenshin charged with his iron cavalry, and Nagano Narimasa, the Yellow-spotted Tiger, launched a massive, all-encompassing attack, were we ever afraid?

Raise your guns, raise your guns, and send those reckless Tokugawa soldiers crashing down onto the slope of Ishida-zaka.

The real samurai were indeed fierce. Even as the Takeda foot soldiers thrust their spears at them, they leaped and pushed forward, using their wooden shields. It was just a fence, not a city wall; if you were really willing to risk it, there was no way you wouldn't get close. Even Okubo Tadayo, who was known as the kindest man in Mikawa, displayed extraordinary bravery at this moment.

With the help of three samurai, he let out a shout and smashed through the deer wall in front of him. He swung his sword and chopped at the straw ropes binding the deer wall, and in just a few blows, the section of the deer wall crumbled.

When one fortress collapses, all fortresses are in danger. Oyamada Nobushige, being from a province controlled by two states, inevitably developed a mindset of preserving strength in his battles. It wasn't that he disliked hand-to-hand combat; in fact, he could be quite fierce in a real crisis. But this wasn't a crisis at all, so why was the Tokugawa clan fighting so desperately?

After glancing briefly at Nobutada Amari behind him, Nobushige Oyamada didn't say he was going to betray his teammate. He was just putting up a normal resistance. If he couldn't resist and was scattered, then that was Nobutada Amari's problem.

With their commander no longer putting up a desperate resistance, the soldiers below naturally knew what was going on. This group wasn't just putting on a show; they were actually going to fight Ōsuga Yasutaka and Ōkubo Tadayo head-on. But these Tokugawa soldiers were truly reckless, charging forward like madmen. If they couldn't stop them, it wouldn't be because I was useless.

Oyamada Nobumo's team kicked off!

Amari Nobutada just scoffed. It was just a scattering of soldiers, not a complete annihilation. Maybe four or five samurai would suddenly die in a certain area, and then there would be no one to organize the battle for that area. The conscripted farmers and local servants, without any restraint, would definitely run away. They were all just trying to make a living; why wouldn't they disperse if no one was urging them to?

Let's keep fighting. Amari Nobutada's father is Amari Torayasu, one of the seventeen senior retainers of the Kai Takeda clan. He has as many as sixty cavalrymen assigned to his younger brother alone, and they come at once with a thousand armored soldiers.

The armored soldiers brandished their spears and charged at the onrushing Tokugawa troops. "What a joke!" they thought. "We Kai mountain people, struggling against heaven and earth in these harsh, desolate places, find endless joy in it. A mere Tokugawa raccoon cat, you think you can take three of my mighty spears?"

Okubo Tadayo shouted, and a hundred or so spear-wielding foot soldiers rushed in like a wall, their cries of "Haiyo! Haiyo! Haiyo!" echoing in unison. Historically, it is verifiable that Oda Nobunaga "exiled" a portion of his organized foot soldier commanders and units to Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Nakagawa Shigemasa, who is currently stationed at Chōkō-ji Temple, was historically exiled by Nobunaga for arbitrarily disposing of a dispute with Shibata Katsuie over territory and water resources. He was seamlessly handed over to Tokugawa Ieyasu on the spot.

Even Kato Yasaburo, a page who followed Nobunaga to the Battle of Okehazama in history, was sent to Hamamatsu Castle to serve Tokugawa Ieyasu because of the so-called "Nobunaga's apprehension," which is to say, because he displeased Nobunaga.

For this reason, Tokugawa Ieyasu directly gave Kato Yasaburo a stipend of 3,000 kan. You can do the math yourself; how many foot soldiers would you have to support with that 3,000 kan stipend to make it worthwhile?

At this time, many of the men who led Tokugawa Ieyasu's vanguard were actually graduates of Nobunaga's military academy. From soldiers to officers, they were all trained and trained by Nobunaga himself.

The three-and-a-half-meter spears came in quick succession, and the Takeda clan, who had never fought against the Oda army before, immediately suffered a great loss. An inch longer, an inch stronger; the peasant soldiers conscripted by the Takeda army all brought their own weapons, with two-and-a-half-meter spears, two-and-a-half-meter spears, and three-meter spears all mixed together.

Suddenly encountering over a hundred men, arrayed in three rows, like waves crashing against the shore, one wave after another, they were instantly rendered powerless to fight back. Amari Nobutada was no coward; if he couldn't withstand the attack head-on, he would send out small groups of elite samurai to flank the spear quiver from both sides.

To everyone's surprise, Torii Mototada of the Tokugawa army's second flank had already arrived with lightning speed. The Torii family was from Nukata District in Mikawa Prefecture, and they were practically three-times-serving officials. They had served Oda, Imagawa, Sakurai Matsudaira, and now the Tokugawa family, or rather, the Ansei Matsudaira family. Torii Tadayoshi and his son Torii Mototada were practically the most social butterflies in Mikawa, fawning over whoever came to them, their obstinacy unparalleled in Mikawa.

However, precisely because of their weak knees, their family's strength was preserved relatively intact. In addition, Torii Mototada did not participate in the Mikawa Ikko-ikki uprising, and immediately became one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's trusted retainers.

At this point, Ieyasu was on the verge of a desperate fight, and Torii Mototada also raised his spear to meet the attack, engaging in a fierce battle with Amari Nobutada, who had led his troops to the scene. The Torii family had preserved a relatively large number of samurai retainers, making them correspondingly stronger in combat, no less capable than Amari Nobutada, who had inherited the samurai group of Amari Torayasu.

Historically, Torii Mototada became lame after being shot in the knee or calf with an arrow. But he's not lame yet; he leaps and wields his spear with more agility than a monkey.

They clashed fiercely with Amari Nobutada, but the Tokugawa army couldn't withstand their spears head-on, while waves of Tokugawa troops surged up from the flanks. For a time, the Kai army was actually at a disadvantage.

At this moment, Tokugawa Ieyasu, in the third wave, was already charging forward under the protection of over a hundred horsemen, holding high a large banner that read "Seeking a Pure Land, Desiring to Leave This Defiled Land." The morale of the entire Tokugawa army soared, and their shouts were high, truly showing signs of breaking through the armored army.

Seeing that Ieyasu had charged forward, Amari Nobutada immediately ordered his men to report to Takeda Shingen in the camp, while also requesting reinforcements from Tsuchiya Masatsugu behind him. Tsuchiya Masatsugu was not one to betray his allies; seeing that Amari's forces were on the verge of collapse, he immediately led his troops forward to engage the Tokugawa army.

Upon seeing Tsuchiya Masatsugu's black and white torii gate and horse emblem in the distance, Torii Mototada's younger brother, Torii Tadahiro, immediately rode forward. This Torii Tadahiro was no ordinary man; he was one of the Sixteen Divine Generals of Tokugawa and a founding retainer enshrined in the Toshogu Shrine.

They are almost on par with the meritorious officials of the Lingyan Pavilion next door, or the Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai. They were twelve generals specially selected by the Tokugawa family after they pacified Japan, and were worshipped together with the Four Heavenly Kings of Tokugawa.

Torii Mototada was going to fight Amari Nobutada, so the attacking Tsuchiya Masatsugu was left to Torii Tadahiro. Among the Mikawa samurai, Torii Tadahiro was known as a brave and valiant general. He brandished his nodachi on horseback and slashed at Tsuchiya Masatsugu.