In this life-and-death struggle, all daimyo in Japan are faced with choices, and the Sanada family is no exception. Should he join the Eastern Army (Tokugawa side) or the Western Army (Ishida side)? There was a split within the Sanada family - Sanada Masayuki and Yukimura's father and son joined the Western Army, while Masayuki's eldest son Nobuyuki decided to join the Eastern Army because he was the son-in-law of Honda Tadakatsu, the Tokugawa minister, and even changed his name to Nobuyuki. , to sever ties with his father. Of course, some people believe that this result is a reflection of Sanada Masayuki's political skills, because in this way, no matter whether the Eastern Army or the Western Army wins, the Sanada family will be preserved.
On September 5, 1600, due to the elusive sneak attack of Sanada Masayuki and Yukimura and his son, with only about a thousand troops, the 38,000 army led by Tokugawa Hidetada was trapped on the Nakasendo Road. He was unable to reach the main battlefield of Sekihara in time. Such a result put Sekigahara's Tokugawa Ieyasu into an absolute disadvantage in terms of military strength. However, the general trend of the world is irreversible. Due to the rebellion of Ishida Mitsunari, the Western Army was finally defeated.
After the war, as the losers, Masayuki Sanada and Yukimura and his son had to accept the punishment of the Tokugawa family. Originally, Hidetada, who suffered humiliation in the Shinano Mountains, wanted to execute the Sanada father and son to vent his anger, but due to Sanada Nobuyuki's sacrifice of his life for mercy, the sentence was finally changed to confiscate the Sanada family territory, and the Sanada father and son were sent to the Annals. He was placed under house arrest in Koyasan, Kishu, and later moved to Mount Kudo in Kishu.
During the period of house arrest, the Sanada father and son still often discussed the art of war, strategy and the general trend of the world. They also hoped that one day they could raise troops again and become famous throughout the country. However, as time passed by, the Tokugawa family had no intention of forgiving them. . On June 4, 1611, Sanada Masayuki passed away in this difficult life and disappointing waiting. At this time, Sanada Yukimura's heart was filled with resentment towards the Tokugawa family:
"One day I will become the first of two generations of generals and spread Sanada's name throughout the world...!"
Between such resentment and dreams, Sanada Yukimura's youth slipped away quietly, and the difficult life made He was born with gray hair early and was getting older day by day...
In early October 1614, Yukimura and his party appeared in Osaka Castle. Due to the reputation of his father Masayuki, Yukimura was quite popular in Osaka and was soon appointed as army commander. He frequently attended high-level military meetings as a military advisor. Yukimura, who believed that he could use his talents, was also very proud and radiant at this time, and tried his best to explain his tactics and strategies. However, because many of his ideas for out-of-town field battles were too risky and he disagreed with Osaka's senior officials, they were not fully adopted. The defensive castle "Sanada Maru" built south of Osaka Castle Minami Sannomaru is one of Yukimura's more successful strategies - Osaka Castle is surrounded by the Seto Inland Sea to the west, the Temman River and Yodogawa to the north, and Yamato to the east. A tributary of the Sichuan River, the terrain is complex and provides a certain degree of defense. In contrast, the southern part of Osaka Castle is mostly wide flat land with weak defense. The two military advisors in Osaka Castle - Sanada Yukimura and Goto Motoji - noticed this at the same time, and successively proposed to the leadership of the Toyotomi family to build a castle (referring to a small city built outside the city wall) in the south of Osaka Castle, which can be used as a fortifications). Both of their suggestions were adopted, but on the issue of who would be in charge of the construction and responsible for the defense, the two heroes came forward and refused to give in, so that there was a fierce dispute for a period of time.
Finally, under the auspices of Yukimura, the castle was built on the front of the Osaka Castle Minami plain and on the southeast side of the structure.
This building called "Sanada Maru" is a fan-shaped walled city. Moats were dug on three sides and double fences were erected. Arrow towers, lookouts and pavilions were set up in the city. Six openings were opened every 1.8 meters. A gun hole is a solid fortification. The construction of Sanada Maru not only made up for the relatively weak defense in the south of Osaka City, but also created convenient conditions for the Osaka army to quickly occupy the Sasayama Highlands in the south of the city when they went out for field battles.
Even during the construction of Sanada Maru, rumors about Yukimura's collusion with Tokugawa were still not completely eliminated. Osaka's top leaders still could not completely eliminate their doubts about Yukimura, and finally decided to place 10,000 troops in the structure behind Sanada Maru in case Yukimura surrendered to the enemy and rebelled.
In November 1614, the smell of war around Osaka Castle became increasingly strong. In order to seize the initiative, Sanada Yukimura sent a small force to leave Sanada Maru and guard Sasayama in the Kobashi area to the south.
On the other hand, after November 11, 1614, the Tokugawa army gradually narrowed the siege of Osaka Castle, approached the south of Osaka Castle step by step, and set up camp 1.5 kilometers away from Osaka Castle. .
At the beginning of the war, Tokugawa adopted a posture of long-term siege. This situation was unbearable for a samurai like Yukimura who was full of revenge, so he planned a plan to snipe Ieyasu——
On November 27, 1614, Sanada Yukimura learned through ninja intelligence that Ieyasu would personally take a boat to Fukushima to inspect the battlefield the next day. He believed that this was an excellent opportunity to kill Ieyasu in one fell swoop, and immediately summoned Fifty soldiers who were good at using iron cannons and 18 samurai with high martial arts skills set out from the Tenman River by boat at around 22:00 that night and hid in the reeds south of Hakurobuchi. It was the middle of winter and the weather was very cold. Sanada's soldiers had to hug each other to keep warm. Yukimura drank and danced with the soldiers to keep warm. He smeared oil on the exposed skin to prevent frostbite and persisted in waiting for Ieyasu's arrival.
On the other hand, on the morning of the 28th, when Ieyasu was about to go on a patrol by boat as originally planned, he was stopped by Tokugawa Hidetada for some unknown reason, and Masazumi Honda was sent to patrol on his behalf. After waiting all night, Yukimura and others were extremely disappointed when they discovered this change. A soldier immediately proposed to snipe Honda Masazumi, but Yukimura flatly refused. After that, he quietly retreated with his troops.
In December of that year, after the 75-year-old Tokugawa Ieyasu personally inspected the position, he believed that a frontal attack on Osaka would cause great losses to his side, so he said to Maeda Toshitsune, one of the coalition generals:
"For Osaka Castle, a forceful attack is not advisable. Please dig a trench in front of our team's position, build a high platform behind it, and use cannon fire to break down the opponent's defenses."
Maeda Tossune received the order and ordered his troops to launch operations that day to dig trenches and build earthen platforms. But all actions were clearly observed by the sentry on the watchtower in Sanada Maruchi. Yukimura Sanada quickly understood the intentions of the Maeda Army. In order to prevent the enemy's actions, Yukimura sent additional soldiers to Sasayama directly opposite Maeda's position and ordered them to shoot at the craftsmen and soldiers building the earth platform for the Maeda Army. Such attacks lasted for several days, causing nearly a hundred casualties to the Maeda army every day. Maeda Toshiuchi's project could not continue at all and had to be abandoned.
On December 3, 1614, Tokugawa Hidetada, who learned about this situation, felt that he could no longer endure it, so he sent Honda Masanobu, his close adviser, as an envoy to the Maeda formation and issued an order to Toshimune. An order to take the initiative and "advance the position to Okayama and seize Sasayama".
Maeda Toshitsune, who was originally harassed by the Sanada army, immediately organized his troops, and together with another prince, Honda Masashige, set out for the Sasayama position at two o'clock in the morning the next day. The two groups originally expected there would be fierce resistance in Sasayama, but they did not expect that Sanada Yukimura had already withdrawn his troops to Sanada Maru. Maeda Tossune hurriedly sent two teams of Yokoyama Nagatomo and Yamazaki Nagatori to pursue them, but the two did not understand the terrain and got lost in the dark. Their formation was scattered and morale was low. No trace of the Sanada army was found until they reached Sanada Maru. , and therefore did not launch an attack on Sanada Maru.
Immediately afterwards, Honda Masashige's team also arrived in front of Sanada Maru, preparing to launch an siege.
Seeing the messy situation of the Tokugawa Army outside the city, the Sanada Army soldiers asked for a fight one after another and wanted to go out of the city to meet the enemy. However, Yukimura did not agree and ordered most of the soldiers to take a short rest to recuperate. Recharge your batteries. Soon after, when the Tokugawa army outside the city had been reorganized, Yukimura sent a soldier to stand on the city wall and curse outside. Hearing such provocative words, the generals of the Maeda family could not suppress their anger. . Maeda Army General Okumura Eiri took the lead in leading his troops to rush to the city wall of Sanada Maru, but was quickly repelled by Sanada Army's intensive musket fire. Maeda Army suffered numerous casualties, and Okumura Eiri himself was seriously injured. Immediately afterwards, Honda Masashige also led his team to attack the city, but was also beaten back by a hail of bullets from the Sanada army. After this, General Tomita Shigemasa of the third Maeda Army arrived and joined the attack on Sanada Maru, but still could not break through the wall.
Before this battle, Maeda Tossune prepared many bamboo shields for the siege to prevent Sanada Maruuchi's musket attacks, but this night's unplanned blind attack made these bamboo shields useless. , but the Maeda army suffered heavy casualties. Maeda Toshitsune was very angry about his subordinates' unauthorized actions that did not obey the command. He ordered the entire army to stop the attack, withdraw from Sasayama, and stationed the main camp in Kino Village.
Upon discovering that the battle of Sanada Maru had begun, Naotaka Ii and Tadanao Matsudaira of the Tokugawa Allied Forces were not to be outdone. They marched towards the 8-chome entrance on the west side of Sanada Maru, attacked Osaka Castle, and broke through outside the city. The first fence. At the same time, an accident also occurred in the Toyotomi Army - Ishikawa Yasukatsu's soldiers knocked over the gunpowder box, causing a violent explosion. Nanjo Motada, who was an internal correspondent of the Tokugawa Army in the city, also took the opportunity to cause trouble and wanted to put the Tokugawa Army into the city. He came to the city, but fortunately he was discovered by the guards, who arrested him immediately and beheaded a few days later. However, Takatora Toudo, who was colluding with Nanjo Mototada outside the city, did not know it. Seeing the fire in the city, he immediately ordered his troops to attack Tanimachiguchi. As Toudo, Ii, and Matsudaira began to attack, the Tokugawa Allied Forces stationed in the south of Osaka City also launched a general attack!
However, the famous strategist and ronin strategist in Osaka Castle, Goto Motoji, had already anticipated the offensive route of the Tokugawa Army, and had prepared troop deployment and defense plans in advance. Like a copper wall and an iron wall, the Tokugawa army could not break through at all!
The battle continued until noon. The teams of Goto Motoji, Nagasogabe Morichika, Kitagawa Nobukatsu, Akashi Zento and other teams in Osaka Castle, together with the defenders of Sanada Maru, fired fierce firepower at Shooting was repeated outside the city, and the Tokugawa troops suffered heavy casualties. However, because all the troops on the Tokugawa side were dazzled by anger, and no one was willing to retreat first for the sake of face, they still charged desperately, and the battle became almost unmanageable. In the end, it was Tokugawa Ieyasu who sent an envoy to order the withdrawal of troops, and Naotaka Ii, the most important official of the Tokugawa family, also took the lead in leading the withdrawal, and other people from all walks of life withdrew from the battlefield.
In this battle, more than 2,000 Tokugawa troops died. Afterwards, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hidetada severely scolded the generals of Matsudaira Tadanao and Ii Naotaka for blindly attacking.
This battle, known as the Battle of Sanada Maru, was also the most intense battle in the Osaka Winter Formation and ended with Toyotomi's victory in defending the city. The victory should be attributed to Sanada Yukimura's clever tactics to lure the enemy, Goto Motoji's keen insight and strategizing command, as well as the desperate fighting of Kimura Shigege and other generals.
As Sanada Yukimura, Goto Motoji and others originally expected, the peace talks were nothing more than Tokugawa's cover-up. The next summer, in April 1615, Tokugawa Ieyasu finally issued another order to attack the Toyotomi family.
This time, the leadership of the Toyotomi family had to make up their mind to fight to the end. Since the fortifications and trenches outside Osaka Castle had been completely destroyed, the Toyotomi Army decided to take the initiative to attack. However, due to unfavorable command, both the attack on Yamato Koriyama Castle and the attack on Kii Wakayama Castle in mid-April ended in failure, and they also suffered the loss of powerful generals such as Gadanemon Naoyuki.
On April 30, in order to deal with the advancing Tokugawa army, Osaka Castle held an important military meeting. At the meeting, the two military advisers Sanada and Goto once again expressed conflicting opinions and started a fierce debate - Goto Matabei believed that the main force of the Tokugawa side was likely to attack from Yamato Road. And Xiaosong Mountain is the only way to pass. The terrain of Komatsu Pass is difficult to defend and difficult to attack. If you set up an ambush there, you may have a chance to kill Ieyasu himself in one fell swoop, thus turning the entire battle situation around.
Sanada Yukimura believes that if the entire army is deployed too far away from the city at Komatsu Pass, it will be difficult to defend if the enemy attacks from Yao and Wakae on Kawachi Road. Moreover, once the Komatsu position is broken through, Osaka Castle will be destroyed. Also difficult to defend. It would be better to wait until all the Tokugawa troops are concentrated under Osaka Castle, and all the Toyotomi troops attack, and then start a frontal decisive battle in the wide plain area from Osaka Castle Nantennoji Temple to Okayama. The vanguard troops of Sanada and Mori will defeat the vanguard troops of the Tokugawa coalition forces, and then Toyotomi Hideyori personally led his troops out of the city to fight, and defeated Ieyasu's main formation with a single sniper attack. At the same time, he sent Akashi Zento to lead a surprise attack team to outflank Ieyasu from the rear, and took advantage of the chaos to cut off Ieyasu's head.
At the end of the debate, Goto Motoji's plan was finally adopted. Some people believe that Sanada Yukimura finally gave up on insisting on his plan because Goto Motoji once gave himself the construction project of "Sanada Maru" during the Winter Formation.
However, the senior leaders of the Toyotomi family fully considered the opinions of Sanada Yukimura, so they decided to let generals such as Kimura Shigenari and Nagasogabe Morichika lead nearly half of the army in the city (more than 20,000 people) , attack from the Hanoi Road to prevent the Tokugawa Army from attacking from the Yao area. At the same time, the troops on Yamato Road were divided into two parts - Goto Motoji and Susukada Kanaki were the first team to ambush at Komatsuyama, and Sanada Yukimura and Mori Katsunaga were the second team to set up formation at Tennoji Temple as backup. If the first team is in trouble, they can retreat in time to preserve their strength.
In general, Osaka's two-pronged approach to using troops disapproved of the two military advisors - at such a critical moment, they could not use troops decisively and all-out, and they had to divide their troops into several groups because they were already short of troops. , can only lead to being defeated individually. But the military orders were overwhelming, and the generals had no choice but to act separately.
On the evening of May 5, the three commanders of the Toyotomi Yamato Front Army, Goto Motoji, Sanada Yukimura, and Mori Katsunaga, said goodbye over drinks at Goto’s position in Hirano and agreed to meet at Domyoji Temple in the early morning of the next day. Reunion, Mao Zedong ambushed the Tokugawa Army. Afterwards, Sanada and Mori returned to the Tennoji position, while Goto Motoji made preparations for the expedition alone.
Unexpectedly, it was going to be foggy that night, and the Maori and Sanada teams were confused during the assembly process. In addition, they were not familiar with the local geography, and their march was very slow. When the Mori Katsunaga team arrived at Fujiidera Village (on the west bank of Ishikawa and west of Komatsuyama) at about ten o'clock in the morning the next day (May 6), it was already reported that Goto Mototsugi Susukada Kaneso was killed in battle and the former army was completely defeated. news. The Maori army immediately stopped advancing, and another hour passed before Sanada Yukimura and Watanabe Nori arrived. The late arrival of the Sanada and Mori armies can be said to be the main reason for Goto Motoji's death in the battle. However, judging from the subsequent situation, even if the follow-up troops join the battle, they will only be able to defeat the vanguard of the Tokugawa army at most, and cannot achieve a single blow. The purpose of killing Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Many people believe that Sanada Yukimura himself was not optimistic about Goto Motoji's plan, so he deliberately arrived late to preserve his strength, hoping to have the final decisive battle at Tennoji, the battlefield he envisioned. However, there are also historical records that Yukimura painfully blamed himself after arriving at Fujiidera Village and learning the news of Goto Motoji's death in battle
However, Sanada Yukimura was not willing to retreat, but went to Fujiidera Village from Fujiidera Village to Marched south to meet the remnants of the former army, and encountered the Date family's elite vanguard force - the horse-mounted iron artillery team led by Katakura Shigetsuna - in the Furuichi Village area.
In the first battle, he killed the famous general Goto Motoji, and he was in high spirits at this moment.
The horse-mounted iron artillery unit (horse iron artillery) he led was an elite unit created by Date Masamune. It had the mobility of cavalry and the long-range lethality of musketeers. It showed great power in the Battle of Komatsuyama.
Facing the world-famous Sanada Yukimura, Katakura Shigetsuna seemed like a newborn calf and was not afraid of tigers. He immediately commanded the troops to attack, with the cavalry, infantry and cavalry in a frontal assault, and the infantry and iron artillery teams on both wings. Scatter shooting.
Faced with the offensive momentum of the Katakura Army's cavalry troops, Yukimura ordered the troops to retreat to avoid its sharp edge, and then attack together when they approached. At the same time, the iron artillery team extended to the left and right, forming a flying goose formation to fire. .
The two sides soon started a melee, with guns rumbling and the sound of killing loud. The Date army was well-equipped, with as many as 800 iron cannons used in this battle, and their firepower was very strong. During the chaotic battle, Yukimura's eldest son Yukimasa Sanada and General Nori Watanabe were shot and wounded one after another and withdrew from the battle, but Yukimura Sanada still commanded the attack and refused to retreat. In the end, the Katakura team had been fighting continuously since night, and the soldiers were relatively tired. In order to avoid excessive losses to the expensive cavalry team, Shigetsuna ordered to withdraw from the battlefield. Sanada Yukimura originally wanted to take advantage of the victory and pursue it, but the enemy's reinforcements appeared, and his side suffered heavy losses, so he also withdrew westward to Fujiidera Village.
In this battle, Sanada Yukimura, who has never been defeated since adulthood, realized the strength of the young military commander Katakura Shigetsuna, and at the same time, the two also developed feelings of sympathy for each other. There are legends that Yukimura went out of town to meet Shigetsuna that night and entrusted his daughter to his care. This woman named "Mei" later became Shigetsuna's wife...
At four o'clock in the afternoon, news came from Hanoi that the Nagasune and Kimura armies were defeated. The Toyotomi troops in Fujiidera Village also had to retreat to Osaka Castle. Sanada Yukimura and Mori Katsunaga together took on the task of rearguard. However, the Tokugawa troops were tired from the continuous fighting and did not pursue them. The Toyotomi troops were able to withdraw safely. During this period, when Yukimura Sanada faced the Tokugawa Allied Forces who did not dare to pursue him, he left a bold statement: "There are millions of soldiers in Kanto, but there is not a single hero!"
On the night of May 6, 1615, Osaka Castle was filled with an atmosphere of despair. Since the Summer Battle of Osaka, the Toyotomi Army has suffered successive setbacks and lost many outstanding generals. It has reached the point where it is at the end of its rope and has to fight with a last ditch effort.
That night, Sanada Yukimura found the chief family boss Ohno Harinaga alone and told him his final battle plan, which was to attack with the entire army and fight the Tokugawa Army head-on from Tennoji Temple to Okayama Pass. Later, Toyotomi Hideyori personally took action, drove straight into the Tokugawa family's base camp, and killed Tokugawa Ieyasu in one fell swoop. During the meeting, Katsunaga Mori also joined in and expressed firm support for Sanada Yukimura's plan.
At about 10 a.m. on May 6, the Tokugawa and Toyotomi armies, one in the south and one in the north, formed a circular formation in the Tennoji-Okayama Pass area south of Osaka Castle. The final decisive battle of the Warring States Period in Japan was about to begin.
In this battle, the total strength of the Toyotomi family was about 50,000, while the Tokugawa Allied Forces had more than 150,000. The difference in strength was clear at a glance. In the camps of both sides, banners of various colors covered the sky and the sun, and many warriors were in high spirits. Sanada Yukimura's troops, plus the troops of subordinate generals Watanabe Nori, Iki Toyo and others, totaled 5,500 people. Together with the troops of another brave general Mori Katsunaga, they were at the forefront of the Tennoji battlefield.
Sanada Yukimura's team is organized according to the Takeda-ryu art of war, and is mainly cavalry. The soldiers are all wearing red armor, carrying a red ground and a hundred-sided "six cents" flag, like a blazing fire in the sunshine of the battlefield! Sanada Yukimura and his son, fifteen-year-old Sanada Daisuke Yukimasa, are also high-spirited and enter the final battle of their lives without any worries.
The decisive battle begins at noon.
First, the vanguard of the Tokugawa Army, Honda Tadachō, fired at the Toyotomi Army, and the Mouri Katsunaga Army facing it immediately fired back, and then the two armies started a fierce battle.
At the beginning of the war, Sanada Yukimura was not eager to join the battle, but stood still because he had a clear tactical goal, which was Tokugawa Ieyasu's head!
"Based on the strength of the troops on the battlefield, the Toyotomi army will definitely be defeated.
But as long as two generations of generals (Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hidetada) are killed, the war situation will be reversed! ...If Hideyoriko can personally take action, then it is not impossible to take Tokugawa Ieyasu's head..." This was Yukimura's thinking at the time.
Therefore, between Mori Katsunaga and Honda When the troops were fighting fiercely, Sanada Yukimura did not command the attack, but anxiously waited for the movement in Osaka City, hoping that Toyotomi Hideyori could lead the army out of the city and be able to fly the golden gourd flag that once shocked the world... But After all, nothing happened. Later, Yukimura learned from the ninja's report that Hideyori had given up the idea of ????acting in person due to Yodohime's obstruction, and secretly sent a messenger to Tokugawa to surrender.
But in the face of the entire army, Yukimura still said passionately that Hideyori would definitely take action in person, and sent his son Yukimasa as an envoy back to Osaka Castle to invite Hideyori to fight. His arrangement could be more or less acceptable. You can feel the deep love of this brave general. When Yukimasa left, Yukimura raised his arms and the blazing Sanada Cavalry began to attack.
When the Sanada team started to attack, Mori Katsunaga was already there. After defeating the Honda Tadashi Army and breaking through the first formation of the Tokugawa Army at Tennoji, Sanada Yukimura was engaged in a fierce melee with the princes of the second and third formations. He seized this opportunity and came from behind the melee position. Bypassing, they directly faced the main team of the second team, Tadanao Matsudaira.
At this time, the 3,500 people from the Sanada team had joined the 2,000 people from the Otani Yoshiharu, Watanabe, and Iki Toyo teams, and their morale was high. Although there were 15,000 Matsudaira troops in front of him, they still rushed into the battle bravely.
Matsudaira was young and energetic, and inherited the fierce and fearless character of his father, Matsudaira Hideyasu, and was about to fight in the real battle. He proved himself on the battlefield. The Echizen soldiers and horses he led were trained by Matsudaira Hideyasu, and they also had strong combat effectiveness. Absolute advantage, not at a disadvantage in terms of morale and combat effectiveness, but Matsudaira's own tactical command ability is far inferior to Sanada Yukimura. In order to break through Matsudaira's entanglement as soon as possible, Sanada Yukimura attacked the Tokugawa army's main formation and sent ninjas to sneak into the rear of Matsudaira's army. , spreading rumors: "The Asano Army has surrendered to Toyotomi! ”
At this time, the Asano Army, which was a reserve army, saw that the front was tight and was moving in the direction of Imamiya. This made the Sanada Army’s rumors an unexpected success, and Matsudaira Tadanao’s army fell into There was a huge chaos. Tokugawa Ieyasu behind saw this and had to send Hatamoto's army to help Tadanao clean up the situation. Sanada Yukimura took advantage of the situation to break through the Matsudaira army's position and went straight into Ieyasu's main formation.
With this! At the same time, Mouri Katsunaga also broke into Tokugawa Ieyasu's main formation, and cooperated with Sanada Yukimura to repeatedly attack the enemy's formation that was several times larger than his own, killing seven in and seven out. However, Ieyasu ordered the commander to be brought down when he was escaping. The flag made it impossible for the Toyotomi army to find his position. This seemingly dishonorable approach highlighted Ieyasu's superb battle command skills as a seasoned commander.
Gradually, as time went by. As time went by, the casualties of the Sanada Army were increasing. The soldiers were exhausted and morale was low due to long-term fighting. At the same time, Matsudaira Tadanao had reorganized his troops and captured the Chausu Mountain position behind Sanada Yukimura, cutting off the Sanada Army. Contact with the rear. The Sanada army, which was attacked from both sides, could no longer support itself and gradually fell into chaos.
At this time, Sanada Yukimura had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was covered in blood. Although it was not a fatal injury, it was seriously consumed. Having lost his physical strength, he could no longer command the battle on horseback, so he led the remaining soldiers to rest at the local Anju Shrine and defended himself against the danger. Yukimura used up his last strength due to pain and fatigue. Looking at the majestic Osaka Castle in the distance, for a while, the young eldest son Daisuke, the deceased father Masayuki, the lord Hideyori who broke the promise, the loyal comrade Goto Matabei... Many memories came to my mind, and I couldn't help but sigh...
At around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the Tokugawa Army broke through Anju Shrine, and the Sanada Army was wiped out. General Yukimura Sanada was beheaded by Nishio Nisaemon at the age of 48.
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon on May 7, 1615, after the death of Sanada Yukimura, other forces of Toyotomi's army on the battlefield of Tennoji also began to collapse. As Onojifou at the Okayama Pass position began to retreat, the decisive battle outside Osaka Castle had come to an end.
The Tokugawa army did not miss the opportunity to win in one fell swoop, but actively pursued Osaka's defeated army. On the way to retreat, Ohnojibo once stopped at the Inari Shrine under Osaka Castle. He formed a dense formation of guns to block the Tokugawa army for a while, but he did not hold out for long and was still defeated in the city.
At the same time, other members of the Tokugawa Allied Forces who learned about the situation on the main battlefield also began to take action - the Kyogoku Tadaka and Ishikawa Tadatsui armies, which were deployed in the northeast of Osaka Castle, began to attack and prepare. Maeshima, and Toshitaka Ikeda, who deployed at the Tenman River, also began to attack the city... The Tokugawa army attacked Osaka Castle from all directions.
Facing the Tokugawa army's offensive, Toyotomi's remnant army made a final resistance in street fighting.
A samurai named Goro Kitamura placed a gunpowder box outside the city. After all the army retreated into the city, he shot fire arrows to detonate the gunpowder, killing many Tokugawa soldiers.
After Toyotomi Hideyori learned that the situation was over, he once wanted to go out and fight to the death himself, but was stopped by his retainer Hayami Morihisa, so he had to escape with Yodohime, Ono Osamu and many close servants. After escaping from Honmaru, Yukimura's eldest son Yukimasa Sanada was by his side to protect him.
Soon, there were people in the city who acted as Tokugawa officials to prevent fires everywhere, causing even greater chaos. At night, all the Toyotomi soldiers fled, and the Tokugawa Allied Forces basically controlled the entire Osaka Castle.
The next day, Naotaka Ii's team of the Tokugawa Army discovered Yodohime, Hideyori and others hiding in a warehouse, and immediately surrounded them. Osamu Nagasaki sent an envoy, wanting to exchange the lives of his family for Hideyori's safety, but was rejected by Naotaka Ii. Desperate, Hideyori and his party did not want to be humiliated, so they all committed suicide and set fire to themselves. Sanada Yukimasa also committed suicide and died for the Lord. He was only 15 years old at the time.
On May 21, Hideyori’s only son Kunimatsu was arrested in Fushimi Castle and executed two days later in Rokujo River, Kyoto. He was only six years old when he died. At this point, the dominant Osaka Toyotomi family was cut off, and the incense of the Sanada family was passed down by the Shinichi clan, Sanada Yukimura's elder brother. In the following eras, Sanada's surname has no more achievements, but Sanada Yukimura's name will never disappear in the hearts of those who admire heroes.