Matsudaira Sadanobu had been feeling uneasy since the beginning.
No.
It should be said that after learning that Ogata Ittosai was in Ezo, Matsudaira Sadanobu's mind has been uneasy.
The names of Ogata Issei and Majima Goro kept interweaving in Matsudaira Sadanobu's mind...
But for some reason, the unrest in my heart reached its peak at this moment.
"Mr. Laozhong."
Matsudaira Sadanobu, who was a little dazed due to his uneasy mind, suddenly heard the call from Inamori beside him.
Inamori was now looking at him with a worried look.
"What's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?"
"I'm fine." Matsudaira Sadanobu shook his head.
Although Matsudaira Sadanobu said "it's okay", Inamori couldn't help but look at Matsudaira Sadanobu up and down several times with a worried look.
However, since Matsudaira Sadanobu said that he was fine, it was not convenient for Inamori - and he did not have the courage to say more or ask more questions to Matsudaira Sadanobu.
So he turned his head back, ready to turn his gaze back to the now crumbling Red Moon Fortress.
But just as he turned his head back, Inamori suddenly caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye - there seemed to be something in the southeast, approaching them quickly.
This unidentified object attracted all of Inamori's attention.
"What... is that...?"
While muttering, Inamori raised the telescope in his hand and looked towards the southeast.
The scene in the southeast appears in the telescope.
The blood in Inamori's body also solidified as he glanced at the camera.
In the camera, Inamori saw nearly 70 cavalrymen forming a neat wedge formation.
The snowflakes raised by the horses' hooves were swept into the air like a whirlwind. The cavalry team passed through the vast snowfield like a gust of wind, and right in front of their charge was the army under his command.
The leader of this cavalry team was wearing a set of mighty blue and gold armor, which seemed to be a Nanman suit from the style. There was a flag tied to the butt of his horse, and there seemed to be something written on the flag - but the distance was too far, and even with a telescope, it was impossible to see what was written on it.
At this moment, countless questions popped up in Inamori's mind.
But the next moment these doubts arose, they were all shattered, gathered, and turned into a scream.
"Send a message to Katsura Yoshimasa in the rear!" A cry of surprise burst out from Inamori's throat, and cold sweat burst out from Inamori's pores, "There are cavalry attacks! Tell him to prepare to meet them!"
…
…
Because Inamori believed that he could capture the fortress this morning, he pulled all the troops out of the barracks. Currently, only some wounded soldiers and a small number of soldiers who were responsible for taking care of the wounded and guarding the baggage were left in the camp.
The rest of the soldiers were all lined up outside the Red Moon Fortress.
It is naturally impossible for such a large army to rush forward to attack the fortress. After all, there is not enough space to deploy so many troops.
Now the troops responsible for attacking the fortress are only 2,000 people from the Second Army.
The rest of the army - nearly 7,000 people - were arranged into seven large formations parallel to the Red Moon Fortress, with an average of 1,000 people in each formation.
In order to facilitate command, Inamori called the large formation closest to the Red Moon Fortress the First Formation, the one behind the First Formation the Second Formation... and so on.
The mission of each formation is to be ready to support the siege at any time, and after the city gates are opened, rush into the fortress to launch a suppression war, quell the remaining resistance forces in the fortress, and completely take control of the fortress.
The main camp of Inamori and his men is located in the middle of these seven large formations - between the 3rd and 4th formations.
Because the main attack on the city would be carried out by the shogunate's direct line: the Second Army, which still had plenty of strength and fighting spirit, the remaining 3,000 troops of the Second Army formed the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd formations closest to the fortress.
As for the troops of the First and Third Armies, they were organized into the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh formations, respectively, behind the Third formation.
Among them, the 4th and 5th formations were from the 3rd Army (Aizu Army), while the 6th and 7th formations were from the 1st Army.
That's why Inamori was so anxious to give orders to Katsura Yoshimasa - the first group to face the cavalry team attacking diagonally from the southeast would be the 7th formation at the back.
At this moment, Gui Yizheng had no idea that danger was approaching behind them.
At this moment, Gui Yi was in the center of the 6th formation, looking at the fortress in the distance with anticipation and pride. He didn't even dare to blink, for fear of missing the moment when the fortress fell.
…
…
Now, the one in charge of the 7th formation is a middle-aged general named "Takamaki Tomomori".
This general came from the Yonezawa domain and was a general of the Yonezawa domain's army. Because the Yonezawa domain had a high status and strength among the Oshu domains, Takamaki's position in the First Army was second only to a few individuals such as Katsura Yoshimasa and Kuroda.
Gao Juan was now sitting on his warhorse, with his arms folded, looking as if someone owed him a thousand taels of gold.
Because the 7th formation he was in charge of was at the end of the army, they were the farthest away from the Red Moon Fortress.
Looking around, the Red Moon Fortress is as small as a thumb.
And he didn't have a telescope, so he couldn't see the current battle situation in Red Moon Fortress.
Therefore, apart from waiting for the battle reports to be delivered, he had no other means to find out the battle situation.
Send someone to ask the superiors about the battle situation? Don't be ridiculous, Gao Juan doesn't want to displease these big guys above him.
Gao Juan is in a bad mood right now.
It's not just because the 7th formation at the back of the army, which he is in charge of, has basically no chance to play.
Moreover, because of this expedition, Gao Juan almost... no, it should be said that he did not get any military merit at all.
He led the Yonezawa clan's army to participate in this war in a mighty manner - but achieved no success.
Now that the Red Moon Fortress is about to fall, there will be no chance for him to make any achievements.
This unwillingness to not have the chance to make further achievements is the main culprit for Gao Juan's current bad mood.
--well……
Gao Juan let out a long sigh in his heart.
——Can’t there be some new enemies appearing so that I can accomplish some feats…
Gao Juan's murmurs just fell on his heart.
Da da da da…
--Um?
He suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves behind him.
——Is this an illusion? No! It's getting louder!
The sound of horse hooves hitting the ground became louder at an extremely fast speed.
Gao Juan quickly turned his head and looked behind him.
When Gao Juan turned around, the sound of horse hooves had turned into a dull sound like thunder.
When his gaze turned behind him, Takamaki saw...perhaps the most horrifying scene he had ever seen in his life.
Nearly 70 cavalrymen formed a tight wedge formation and attacked their 7th formation from the rear with overwhelming force.
Anyone who was not deaf could have heard the huge sound of horse hooves.
Almost all the generals and soldiers of the 7th formation turned their heads to look behind them - and then they were stunned just like Takamaki.
Finally—Takamaki reacted!
"All troops, turn back! Line up your rifles! Get ready to meet the enemy!"
Although I shouted this sentence loudly, it was too late.
When he shouted this, the cavalry team - Ogata and his men had already crashed into the rear of the 7th formation.
It's like putting eggs on stones: Ogata and his men are the stones, and the soldiers of the 7th formation are the eggs.
Sakakibara Ittoryu - Torashi.
Ogata pierced through the chest of a soldier who happened to be blocking his way with his sword, then he gathered all his strength and threw him heavily into the air. The soldier's body was also thrown out from Ogata's sword, drawing a beautiful parabola and knocking all three soldiers to the ground.
Ogata held the reins in his mouth and pulled out the Great Freedom with his left hand.
The two swords flow without self, flowing.
The flash of swords flew everywhere, and every time Ogata swung his sword, one or several soldiers fell to the ground, holding various parts of their bodies, mainly above the chest.
The high-speed cavalry crashing into the unprepared infantry phalanx was essentially like a flame hitting an ice cube.
What’s more, it was the Cossack cavalry that launched the charge.
Cossack cavalry has quite a lot of labels in Europe.
The two most famous labels are: proficient in riding and brave in combat.
Following closely behind Ogata, Skuluch wielded their Cossack saber - the Chasik.
The swinging scimitars formed layers of light curtains.
This light curtain has only one function - to reap the lives of the soldiers covered by it.
Ogata and his men charged into the 7th formation with almost no effort.
The soldiers of the 7th formation were completely unprepared for Ogata's charge and began to collapse at the very beginning of the battle.
Some soldiers still have the samurai spirit.
These soldiers, who still had the spirit of a samurai in their hearts, gritted their teeth, clenched their guns, and took the initiative to meet Ogata's charge.
But their bravery did not have any effect at all.
Ogata, who was at the front, naturally suffered the most attacks.
Four long spears stabbed at Ogata from four directions in front of him.
With just a glance, Ogata quickly determined the order in which the four spears pierced him and Radish.
Swinging the two swords, weaken the four spears in sequence.
Two of them were a little far away from Ogata, so Ogata let them go.
As for the other two, they were not so lucky - they were stabbed and fell to the ground almost at the same time.
Those soldiers who rushed forward to try to stop a chariot were either hacked to death or knocked away by war horses that were taller than most of them.
Ogata and his men galloped through the empty space and split the seventh formation in half from the middle.
Gao Juan, who was located in the middle of the 7th formation, was trying hard to command the soldiers to actively resist at the beginning.
But now that Ogata and his men had already broken into their army, no matter what they did, it would be in vain.
They were all soldiers of the First Army, and they had previously fought bloody battles to capture the Red Moon Fortress.
They were exhausted both physically and mentally and had not yet recovered, so their morale and fighting spirit were not high.
Faced with Ogata's sudden charge, their already low morale and fighting spirit quickly melted away like ice and snow touching salt.
More and more soldiers chose to flee to the side, making way for them and not daring to stand in front of Ogata and the others.
Seeing that there was no way to save the situation, Gao Juan made a prompt decision - he turned his horse around and fled with only a few guards.
In Gao Juan's mind, he no longer thought about whether he had made any contribution or not.
He just wants to survive now.
I just want to leave here quickly and rush to the 6th formation in front, find Katsura Yoshimasa and others who are in the 6th formation, seek shelter from them, and tell them to prepare for defense.
At this moment, Gao Juan hated himself very much for wearing such a heavy armor.
If armor wasn't so difficult to put on and take off, Gao Juan would have wanted to take off all the armor immediately so that his horse could run faster.
Gao Juan hit the horse's belly desperately, increasing the speed of the warhorse under him to the limit.
However - even though he had already increased the horse's speed to the limit, he could still hear the sound of horse hooves, screams and wails coming closer and closer from behind him.
Gao Juan suppressed his fear and turned his head to look behind him - this group of cavalrymen of unknown origin were now less than 5 steps behind him.
And this distance, which was already very short, is still shortening at a very fast speed.
They rushed straight forward and nothing could stop them.
After they got closer, Gao Juan finally saw clearly that the leader of the cavalry team looked very familiar...
There was a flag tied to the back of the horse of this very familiar-looking man, with a line of very eye-catching large characters written on it.
Gao Juan stared at the big flag and called out the words written on it in a daze:
"The unrivaled sword in the world... Ogata Issei...!"
Gao Juan remembered.
I remembered why I felt this guy looked familiar...
As soon as Takamaki read out what was written on the flag, he saw Ogata rushing behind him, saw the flash of Ogata's sword, saw the flash of Ogata's sword sweeping towards his neck...
Ogata cut off Takamaki's head with one blow.
Then, Takamaki's headless body fell off the horse and was buried under the hooves of Skulucci and others behind Ogata.
Some soldiers who happened to be nearby screamed in fear when they saw their general being killed instantly by Ogata, and their morale instantly dropped to freezing point.
The 7th general - Takamaki Tomomori, is here to fight for it!
The 7th formation - Breakthrough!
…
…
The 6th round——
"Ahh... it's so noisy." Gui Yizheng frowned and muttered while looking behind him, "What are the people in the 7th formation doing..."
Before Gui Yizheng could finish his words, the last few syllables of his "What are you doing" were stuck in his throat as his gaze shifted to the 7th formation behind him.
"What happened..." Gui Yi was looking at the chaotic 7th formation in the back, muttering in a daze.
"Lord Gui! Lord Gui!"
At this time, a messenger from the main camp of the entire army rushed in front of Katsura Yoshimasa.
"Lord Inamori has a message for you - dozens of cavalry are attacking our army from the rear! First, I order you to defend your positions and stop the attacking enemy!"
"Stop the incoming enemy..." Gui Yizheng turned his head again to look at the 7th formation in the back which was in chaos.
When he turned his gaze back, Gui Yi just happened to see a cavalry team breaking through the 7th formation.
They did not stop, broke out of the 7th formation, and continued to charge forward without stopping, heading straight for the 6th Army where Gui Yizheng was currently.
“Stop joking…” Gui Yizheng’s face turned pale at a speed visible to the naked eye. “At such a close distance, how do you expect me to defend against a cavalry team…?!”