Ii's Akazonae (red arms) had such great success in their first engagement at the Battle of Komaki-Nagakute that Hideyoshi HASHIBA, supreme commander of a Hashiba army that consisted of nearly 10 times as many soldiers as the allied forces of Tokugawa and Oda, and his busho (Japanese military commanders) were said to have trouble with them.
初陣の小牧・長久手の戦いでは大いに活躍し、徳川・織田連合軍の約10倍近くの兵を有していた羽柴軍の総大将である羽柴秀吉（後の豊臣秀吉）やその配下の武将達もこの井伊の赤備えには、大変手こずったという。