At 8:00 on May 16th, envoys sent by Yu Qiuping rushed to the territories of four small wealthy families and informed them of the Oda family's northward attack. The unexpected attack left the four wealthy families with no choice but to continue as they did last time.
No fight, let the road pass for the Oda family.
After these four small wealthy families honestly gave up their resistance, the path forward for the Oda family was immediately clear. They did not cross the Nagara River to the west and enter Sumamata like last time, but went straight north towards Inabayama Castle.
The first to bear the brunt was the territory of the Hibino family. After the death of the head of the Hibino family, the strength of the Hibino family plummeted, and they were unable to resist the attack of the Oda army. As the vanguard, Shibata Katsuie conquered the Shijujo area, the rain fell, and Mori Katsunari
Reinforcements led by He and Ikeda Tsuneki also arrived immediately, and the army with a total strength of 3,000 assembled on the east bank of the Nagara River - an area fourteen miles southwest of Inabayama Castle.
During Yu Qiuping's expedition this time, the number of auxiliary soldiers was stretched thin. He relied on the recruitment system to recruit 400 soldiers, but it was impossible for the auxiliary soldiers to spend a lot of money to become full-time soldiers. Instead, Yu could only recruit farmers from the territory.
Qiuping's 14,000-stone territory had a population of just over 2,000, so he could only muster 500 auxiliary soldiers to go on the expedition. In desperation, Yu Qiuping had no choice but to order all the soldiers to march forward directly in armor, and only let the auxiliary soldiers carry grain, grass, and tent cloth.
Siege equipment and other baggage.
The army had just finished lunch, and Shibata Katsuie, as the vanguard general, asked the entire army to continue marching toward the northeast to conquer the Kanana Castle in front of them - which was also the last barrier of Inabayama Castle.
"His Royal Highness Shibata," Yu Qiuping suggested in the main tent: "Our army only has 3,000 people in total, and our military strength cannot be said to be very strong. Why not wait for the arrival of the main force of the lord before continuing the attack?"
"Yuqiu Hongye, just execute the order," Shibata Katsuie did not consider Yuqiupei's suggestion at all.
"Your Majesty Shibata, we are single and weak, what should we do if we encounter an ambush?" The conservative Yu Qiuping still suggested uneasily.
"Where did the people come from to ambush us?" Shibata Katsuie retorted angrily: "There are only less than 2,000 people in Inabayama City, and the wealthy family of Simino is already sitting back and watching the success or failure, so what's the danger?"
Seeing that Yu Qiupei wanted to persuade him again, Shibata Katsuie waved his hand, indicating that Yu Qiupei didn't need to say any more. "Suruga's female warriors can't achieve great things because they are timid." Shibata Katsuie said coldly: "Because they are timid and afraid of death,
You refuse to take advantage of the situation and attack. Do you have to wait until the opportunity is almost missed and the Saito family's army returns to support before you dare to launch an attack?"
Yu Qiupei, who was reprimanded in public like this, naturally did not look good. He shook his head and expressed his objection, but did not say more. In the final analysis, this is not the Imagawa family, Shibata Katsuie, the old Oda family.
Life and death have nothing to do with Yu Qiuping.
"You're such a person! You're just kicking your nose in the face!" Yu Qiuping didn't speak, but that didn't mean that Ikeda Hengxing could bear it. After seeing Shibata Katsuie reprimanding Yu Qiuping so rudely, he blushed and retorted: "You
This is the attitude towards colleagues!"
"Your Highness Shibata, it was indeed inappropriate just now." Mori Katsunari, who usually doesn't speak much, added in a low voice, looking at the overbearing Shibata Katsuie with dissatisfaction. After the latter saw that the scene was a bit embarrassing, he just dismissed it.
He shook his head.
"Have you forgotten how badly you were defeated in Ghana before?" Ikeda Hengxing was completely angered by Shibata Katsuie, and he unceremoniously opened up the old score, "It was in Ghana! It was here! At that time, the old master's army was defeated
Mr. Dosan was defeated and fled all the way back to Owari! Didn't you also run away with your tail between your legs? Why don't you learn a lesson!"
"Shut up!" Shibata Katsuie also had blue veins popping up on his forehead. It seemed that he was still haunted by the disastrous defeat in Ghana many years ago. The reason why he was so eager to capture the city of Ghana was because he probably wanted to wash away the shame of that year.
"Let's go, this is my order." After a moment, Shibata Katsuie emphasized without any doubt.
·
At seven quarters past noon, the Oda family's army left Shijujo and marched toward Kanana City in the northeast.
"How's it going? Is there any new information coming back from Qinggang?" Yu Qiuping asked nervously when he saw Sanada Masayuki coming on horseback in a hurry.
"Reporting to Your Highness, Xi Mino has also been under martial law. It is not easy to transmit the news," Sanada Masayuki shook his head regretfully and said, "Although Lord Uchiha led his men to investigate diligently, there is still no effective information. The only thing that can be known is that Xi Mino is under martial law."
The major wealthy families of Meinong have already assembled their troops."
"The troops have been assembled..." Yu Qiupei murmured to himself. For a long time, he still couldn't come up with any conclusion on his own, so he looked at Masayuki Sanada and asked: "Kibei, what do you think? Nishimino
Will the wealthy family come to attack us?"
"Your Highness, are you asking me?" Sanada Masayuki frowned upon hearing this, "I find it difficult to say. Now the relationship between the wealthy families of Simino and the Saito family has become so bad that the majesty of the main family has been lost.
I'm guessing that Saito Ryuuki must have dreamed of weakening the power in the hands of the wealthy Simeon family, right?"
"Even an outsider like me knows this, and the wealthy families of Simeon will understand." Sanada Masayuki continued his analysis: "If a master is so wary of retainers who hate his subordinates, naturally the retainers will not sacrifice their lives for him, right? Now, right?
Inabayama Castle is in danger. Why do the wealthy families of Simino send troops to fight for the Saito family?"
"You are right." Yu Qiuping nodded slowly, "But I still feel uneasy."
"Your Highness is worried. In fact, it may not have much to do with the current situation, but it stems from His Highness's own style." Sanada Masayuki said: "His Highness has always been a cautious person, and safety is the first priority when marching and fighting. As long as it is like something like
Your Highness will definitely instinctively feel that the aggressive attack order issued by Oda-sama is inappropriate. Caution can sometimes avoid disasters, but it also restricts His Highness."
After hearing Sanada Masayuki's evaluation, Yu Qiuping was also happy. After thinking for a moment, it seemed that this was really the case. "That's true," Yu Qiuping said with a smile, "Maybe I am too cautious. People like me
With his personality, he would never be able to make the decision of secretly plotting against Chen Cang and fighting a last-ditch battle like that of the military immortal Han Xin! Even as his deputy general, I would definitely advise him to be on the safe side!"
·
Along the way, Yu Qiuping, as the second team, constantly sent out detective horses to the west and east to search, expanding the scope of his investigation. However, whether it was the detective horses that crossed the Nagara River to investigate the west bank, they also explored more than a dozen times to the east.
The riders in the area did not find any sign of the Saito family coming to attack. Yu Qiuping also sent scout cavalry to take care of several large forests, hills, and mountainous terrains one by one, but still no so-called ambush was found.
"Perhaps I'm just too worried," Yu Qiuping breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the city of Ghana appeared in his field of vision. "Shibata Katsuie made a good judgment."
After Shibata Katsuie arrived at the city, he immediately ordered his troops to attack the city without hesitation. The Shibata family's 400 soldiers besieged the city from all directions, making it impossible for the Saito family samurai who defended the city to cope with it. He only had a few soldiers in his hands.
Ten soldiers and more than a hundred auxiliary soldiers could not hold out for long before Ninomaru fell. After he led the remaining troops to retreat to Honmaru and the castle tower, Shibata Katsuie immediately advanced again and completely occupied Kanana Castle with Shintoki Shichiki.
When the dust of the battle settled, the reinforcements from Inabayama Castle arrived belatedly. Saito Ryuuki waited until noon today to learn about the large-scale invasion of the Oda family. In his panic, it was difficult to imagine that Oda Nobunaga actually launched an attack.
A surprise attack. When he finally confirmed the accuracy of the news, he immediately realized that Inabayama Castle was in danger! He personally sent an apology letter to the Nishi Mino wealthy family, hoping that they would come to support. At the same time, he hurriedly mobilized the remaining troops
They went south to support them, but it was still a step too late. Seeing that Kanana City had fallen, they had no choice but to retreat to Inabayama Castle in despair.
Yu Qiuping now had to admire Shibata Katsuie's courage. If he hadn't overturned all opinions and asked the entire army to attack north immediately at noon today, he might not have been able to capture the city of Ghana before the reinforcements arrived. Then the Saito family's reinforcements could
Using the fortified city of Ghana as a basis to resist the Oda family and waiting for reinforcements - the situation will also be out of control.
For this reason, Yu Qiuping personally apologized to Shibata Katsuie at the battlefield meeting that night. However, Shibata Katsuie seemed not to accept his kindness at all, and continued to discuss the war situation without paying any attention to him.
·
Not long ago, the Saito family army located in the direction of Inuyama Castle had just received an alert. The leading troops, Hinano Hiroshi and Nagai Michuri, had no idea that the Oda family army, which was still confronting them at Komakiyama Castle yesterday, had now gone straight to Inabayama Castle.
Went. When the two of them were panicking, they also had differences of opinion.
As Saito Ryuuki's teacher and a direct minister of the Saito family, Hineno Hiroshi was very worried about the safety of Saito Ryuuki and Inabayama Castle. He advocated that the entire army immediately return to support Inabayama Castle and repel the attacking Oda Nobu.
long.
However, Nagai Michuri had a different view. He was not so close to the Saito family, but he advocated encircling Wei to rescue Zhao. The army that had been assembled near Inuyama directly entered Owari territory, joined forces with Oda Nobukiyo's troops, and attacked Komaki
Yamashiro and Kiyoshu Castle were on the line, forcing Oda Nobunaga to return reinforcements.
This idea was immediately approved by the Toyama family, the Endo family and the Inuyama-Oda family. If the Toyama family and the Endo family went through all the trouble to rush back for reinforcements, not only would they gain nothing, they might even have to fight the main force of the Oda family.
However, if you avoid the real situation and attack the weak, and attack the small and outnumbered Komakiyama Castle and Seishu Castle, you can not only plunder the castle towns and villages and make a good fortune, but also avoid casualties. This is especially true for the Inuyama Oda family.
What he was thinking about was not how to protect the Saito family, but how to minimize the threat posed by the Oda family to Inuyama.
In this way, the two sides were in a stalemate, with no one willing to compromise, which wasted precious time.
Chapter completed!