Some things are just so unexpected.
Before Tokugawa Hideyoshi came to Edogawa, he knew the importance of this place at a glance. The river was sixty or seventy feet wide and blocked the way. What is a natural barrier? The Edogawa River is a real natural barrier.
But such a big river only blocked the Ming army for one day, and this day was wasted by the Ming army preparing engineering equipment.
If even a natural barrier like the Edogawa River could only stop the Ming army for one day, then the Tokyo defense circle prepared by Hirohito Hiroichi would be meaningless.
Even though there are still 150,000 troops around Tokyo, and even behind the high walls of Tokyo City, how many days can they stop the Ming army?
Tokugawa Hideyoshi, the so-called rising star, went from being complacent and feeling that everything in the world was his to be in charge to being at a loss in just one night.
"General, do you want to transfer more troops from the camp behind us?"
Facing the equally panicked Takeda Nobuo, Tokugawa Hideyoshi sighed and said, "What's the point of mobilizing?"
"Are they really going to send 50,000 troops to charge on the river bank?"
"Just for the more than a thousand Ming troops crossing the river?"
"It would be fine if there were tens of thousands of Ming troops crossing the river. But if there are tens of thousands of Ming troops, we can just push forward with 50,000 people. It's worth a try."
"But now, at this moment, out of our more than 10,000 people, we still don't know where to start with nearly two-thirds."
Takeda Nobuo was also extremely anxious. It was indeed true. Could it be that a 50,000-strong army was really going to be completely annihilated here?
However, Nobuo Takeda, who was seeing this kind of scene for the first time, continued, "What the Marshal said makes sense, but what should we do now?"
"The Ming army has few people, but they are determined to fight to the death. We have many people, but we don't have much room to use our skills. If we wait until the Ming army advances to a certain point, if we wait until those Ming army warriors with long axes and heavy armor are lined up in an orderly manner, and if such an army launches an organized charge, then who can stop us?"
To be honest, this was the first time that Takeda Nobuo had seen such a scene, but so had Tokugawa Hideyoshi. He had indeed been sleeping on straw and eating bitter food in the past few years, and had indeed been keeping a low profile. He was just waiting for a show that would make a big splash, but what he waited for was Zhang Wuji, the long-axe and heavily armored warrior of the Ming Dynasty.
To put it bluntly, the current world is a little different from what he imagined, because Tokugawa Hideyoshi never imagined that he would encounter such an enemy.
However, just when Tokugawa Hideyoshi was at a loss, the Ming army soldiers, led by Zhao Min, advanced forward dozens of steps, and the battlefield became more and more chaotic. At some point, the Ming army on the other side of the river had mobilized a team of hundreds of archers. The lethality of those crossbowmen was even greater. They all had strong bows and crossbows. Facing the Japanese on the river bank here, they hardly needed to aim. A random arrow could almost kill a Japanese.
Moreover, it was visible to the naked eye that the situation on both sides was reversing, and countless Ming army soldiers were running along their only floating bridge.
Although there was only one floating bridge, they acted quickly and in an orderly manner.
Takeda Nobuo said to Tokugawa again: "General, the situation has reversed. When that strange flag of the Ming army crosses the river from the other side of Edogawa River, I am afraid we will not be able to drive them into the water."
"You are yelling at the soldiers not to retreat, but the Ming army is the one that really refuses to retreat."
"They have been like this from the beginning to the end. But us, look carefully at the current situation. There are so many people, but what's the use of having so many people?"
How could Tokugawa Hideyoshi not know what Takeda Nobuo said: "Takeda-kun, what do you think we should do now?"
Takeda Nobuo said: "Now, we have to make a decision immediately. We can either mobilize all the soldiers in the camp and launch a charge of tens of thousands of people, even if it means driving thousands of our own soldiers into the water and drowning them."
"If we do this, we can at least reoccupy all places on the river bank. As long as we can drive the Ming army into the water and then destroy the pontoon bridge, today's battle will be over, no matter how many people are killed or injured."
"If we do this, Edogawa River will still be a natural barrier, and the camp behind us will still be stable."
"The second way is to withdraw the troops immediately and withdraw the soldiers here back to the camp first. Otherwise, once the growing number of Ming troops overthrow our more than 10,000 people, they will rush into the camp behind us with our defeated soldiers. In that case, even if this battle is completely lost, your twenty years of hiding your strength and biding your time will become a joke."
Looking at the situation before him, Tokugawa Hideyoshi felt powerless again. To be honest, Tokugawa Hideyoshi had considered the idea of lining up all 50,000 troops on the riverbank, then sending another 50,000-man force forward, regardless of how many soldiers would be driven into the water like the Ming army. While this might work, how many casualties would it inflict on the Ming army?
One thousand? Two thousand? Regardless of the number, Tokugawa Hideyoshi was certain that the casualties among his own soldiers were definitely several times greater than those suffered by the Ming army.
If the war really went on like this, morale would be completely broken. I'm afraid I'd lose tens of thousands of men, and the Ming army would lose a thousand or two. How would we handle the rest of the situation?
If the Ming army does this again in two or three days, will we have to do the same thing here?
In the final analysis, the Ming army's combat effectiveness was too strong. Not to mention that one of them could beat three, but three of them could beat ten. Whether it was armor or equipment, they were not comparable to our side.
"General, if you hesitate to make a decision when you should, you will suffer the consequences."
Takeda Nobuo urged again.
Let's look at Tokugawa Hideyoshi. After all, he had been hiding his talents among the lowest-level military officers for twenty years. He was not a gambler and would never put all his wealth on an unequal bet.
Seeing that tens of thousands of his own soldiers were being forced to retreat by a small number of Ming troops, he knew that he would never be able to do anything on this river bank again. Then he looked at the increasing number of Ming troops, the strange flag that was advancing slowly, and the increasing number of river bank positions controlled by them. After sighing, Tokugawa Hideyoshi gritted his teeth and said, "Mr. Takeda, you go back to our camp first, deploy the troops in the camp, prepare the bows and line up the soldiers. I will give you a time difference. After a quarter of an hour, I will lead the army to retreat."
"If the Ming army follows my defeated army into the camp, you will lead the soldiers to quickly intercept and kill them in the camp."
Nobuo Takeda breathed a long sigh of relief: "General, don't worry. The soldiers in the camp are ready now. I know what to do and there will be no mistakes."
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