This was Du Fei's army! Not long after this huge army joined the battle group, Yamazaki Kata's 10,000 troops, who had been watching, immediately attacked the Akechi army!
Akechi Mitsuhide's army was surrounded by the three armies of Du Fei, Fujiyoshiro, and Yamazaki Kata, even though they had extraordinary abilities, they immediately fell apart. The soldiers of the main camp desperately protected him and escaped from the encirclement.
After Kinoshita Tokichiro's victory, the muscles on his face tensed up and he held Du Fei's hand: "Master! You have helped me a lot!"
"You're welcome! Do what you want to do!" Du Fei said heartwarmingly: "I will always support you! I am going back to Shikoku now. There seems to be something wrong with our department at Changzong recently!" he said
After that, Du Fei led the army and left quietly. He turned his back to Kinoshita Tokichiro and walked further and further away.
"Your Highness! We helped him win such an important battle, and we are leaving without asking for any benefits?" Kai Zongyun seemed to feel a little regretful.
"Haha" Du Fei said with a smile: "We have done enough! The rest is up to him! I think he will definitely replace Oda Nobunaga and become the overlord of Kinki! Of course, the benefits do not require us to do it automatically.
Delivered to your door!”
Fujikichiro looked at Du Fei and shouted excitedly: "When I become a successful person, I will do my best to repay my benefactor for helping him in times of need!"
"Only when he defeats Shibata Katsuie will he be the true overlord of Kinki!" Du Fei said thoughtfully to the generals: "Niwa has a long show and Sakuma Katsunobu has great prestige, but his popularity and military strength are far inferior.
There are two people, but who they support largely determines the outcome of this power game!"
"I heard that Niwa Nagahide has a very good relationship with Tokichiro, and his wife Ningning is his niece!" Kanbei Kobata came over and said: "It seems that Niwa Nagahide definitely supports the monkey!"
"But you have all forgotten one person, and that is Oda Nobutaka!" Du Fei let out a long breath: "No matter who among Oda's retainers, they all seem to have reasons to seize power, but I and other outsiders have interfered too much with them.
If the internal affairs of the house are very inappropriate and are misunderstood by the Oda retainers, it will make the Oda retainers think that the monkey is our puppet, which will be counterproductive!"
Although Du Feiren left Kinki, he has been paying attention to the changes in the situation in Kinki.
As expected by everyone, Niwa Nagahide sided with Monkey without hesitation. In addition to him, the Ikeda family, and Kuuki Yoshitaka who had a good relationship with Du Fei also stood firmly behind him. He occupied Himeji
, Hayashiye, Utsuki, Uozumi, Imamahama, and the territory of Hara Akechi Mitsuhide, Tanba Kingdom, was also taken over by Kinoshita Tokichiro. In addition to the more than 7,000 soldiers originally under his jurisdiction, all Yamazaki's troops also surrendered to him, plus
Niwa Nagahide and others' troops, Kinoshita Tokichiro suddenly had 24,000 people!!
Behind Shibata Katsuie, there were gathered Oda Nobutaka, Oda Nobuo, Lin Xiuzhen, Sakuma Morinobu and others. They occupied Kitanojo Castle, Odani Castle, Kinki Castle, Qingzhou, Nayako, and other places together.
Twenty-two thousand people!
The strength of the two sides is quite different, so there is no easy conflict. Although they don't like each other, after all, they are members of the same family and have fought in the same trench, so both sides are somewhat embarrassed.
Therefore, at the suggestion of Niwa Nagahide and Sakuma Morinobu, Tokichiro and Shibata Katsuie held a meeting in Kiyoshu.
The core of this kind of meeting is of course rights. From the beginning, the two sides started tit-for-tat, attacking and ridiculing each other.
Tokichiro and Katsuie Shibata were both dissatisfied with each other. Both felt that they should command the heroes as the head of the Oda family's retainers. After some bickering, no substantial progress was made in the meeting until Kinoshita Tokichiro brought out his trump card.
I saw Oda Nobutada's eldest son, the seven-year-old Sanbashi, being carried to the venue by Takenaka Hanbei, Tokichiro's chief retainer.
"What do you mean?" Shibata Katsuie was confused for a moment. Oda Nobutaka and Nobuo behind him were also stunned.
"Shibata Katsuie, you just said that you want to support His Highness Nobutaka to ascend to the position of family governor, right?" At this time, Tokichiro seemed to have obtained some magic weapon. He glanced at Shibata Katsuie triumphantly and suddenly roared.
: "You are clearly despising His Highness's last wish! Didn't His Highness Nobunaga personally issue an edict before his death, appointing Nobutada-sama as his successor? You just ignored his order not long after his death?"
"What nonsense are you talking about!" Shibata Katsuie retorted angrily: "I say that because His Highness Nobutada has died in the battle!"
Tokichiro took the three mages from Takenaka Hanbei's hands, placed them on the highest seat in the venue, and bowed to him: "Since His Highness Nobutada is dead, he is the only one who has the right to inherit! His Highness Nobutada's eldest son
——Three Mage!"
"Are you kidding!" Shibata Katsuie stood up angrily: "He is only seven years old, what can he know? How to deal with military aircraft?"
"I am the tutor assigned by His Highness Nobutada to the Third Master before his death, so I will naturally act on his behalf!" Kinoshita Tokichiro finally revealed his purpose after going around for a long time.
He knelt before the seven-year-old Master Three as if he was serious: "Master Three, do you have any wishes?"
"Yes! If you have anything to do, just ask us to do it!" Niwa Nagahide also helped.
"Nonsense!" Shibata Katsuie saw this and walked away! Oda Nobuo and Sakuma Morinobu also left the table angrily. Oda Nobutaka walked at the end of them and whispered in Tokichiro's ear before leaving.
Said: "You want to go against me? Wait!"
The two sides finally broke up! But Tokichiro did not rush to recruit troops and mobilize the army like Shibata Katsuie. Instead, he did the most popular thing - holding a funeral for Oda Nobunaga.
It is very embarrassing to say that all the retainers of the Oda family kept saying that they should remember the kindness of Oda Nobunaga, but they all put grabbing food and territory first, and no one even remembered that even the bones
The funeral of Oda Nobunaga, who cannot be found, has not yet been arranged.
In fact, the monkey has forgotten it. But his adviser Kuroda Kanbei is very attentive. He even suggested that he would rather sacrifice the time of deploying troops and generals to make Oda Nobunaga's funeral a glorious one!
As a result, a grand funeral was held in Kyoto under the plan of Kinoshita Tokichiro. Kinoshita Tokichiro was seen standing at the front of the procession, and behind him was the coffin containing Oda Nobunaga's relics.
This pattern gives people a strong impression, and ordinary people who do not know what is going on think that Kinoshita Tokichiro is the legal heir of Oda Nobunaga.
Tokichiro's funeral produced an expected effect, that is, an endless stream of people joined Kinoshita's army! His army further expanded! Within a few months, it reached 30,000 people!
In addition, it also received an unexpected effect: Sakuma Katsunobu, a veteran of the Oda family, heard that Tokichiro was desperate to arrange a funeral for Nobunaga, and immediately and resolutely switched sides! He turned to support Tokichiro!
The originally evenly matched situation suddenly became tilted.
Shibata Katsuie suddenly became quite disadvantaged. Not only did he lose the strong support of Sakuma Moritaka, but he and Oda Nobutaka were also in a state of mutual suspicion.
But Oda Nobutaka was obviously not a vegetarian. He immediately made a despicable but very shrewd decision - to marry his aunt Aichi to Shibata Katsuie.
At this time, although Shibata Katsuie and Oda Nobutaka were at a military disadvantage, they became suspicious of each other and began to work together.
Kinoshita Tokichiro was furious when he heard the news! (He has always had a crush on Aichi) Then the anger accumulated in the chests of both parties was triggered!!
"A battle to determine the ownership of rights seems inevitable." Du Fei shook his head repeatedly while listening to Xiaoban's report, but at this time, everyone tried their best to stop it.
There is no need to stop the matter. The longer things drag on, the more detrimental it will be to the Oda retainers!
Although the Oda family is currently divided into two factions, their strength is still something that the other daimyo dare not underestimate. No one dares to intervene in this dispute without authorization, for fear of getting burned.
Watching the Oda retainers fight among themselves is what they are most willing to do. The Oda family's power is constantly being weakened and worn away, and for them there are only benefits and no harm.
Kinoshita Tokichiro and Shibata Katsuie both understood this. They were very familiar with each other, and there was no need to engage in any conspiracy. After several small-scale mutual tests, they finally began to prepare for a large-scale battle!
At this moment, there is a piece of bad news that will hit Shibata Katsuie and Oda Nobutaka hard. Oda Nobuo, the leader of the birthplace of the Oda family - Owari Kingdom Kiyoshu, who has been standing behind them, temporarily defected when he saw that the situation was not good.
Joined the side of Kinoshita Tokichiro who is gaining momentum!
At this time, Tokichiro was ecstatic! You must know that his territory has formed an encirclement on Shibata Katsuie! Qingzhou City is very close to Gifu City occupied by Oda Nobutaka, which directly exposed Oda Nobutaka under the tree.
Under the military's sight!
Although it was inconvenient for Du Fei, who was originally in Shikoku to watch the battle, to personally lead the troops to support the battle, he provided Hideyoshi with the gunpowder he was in short supply, and gave Tokichiro a helping hand without him realizing it!
Fujiyoshiro received arms funding from Du Fei and support from Oda Nobuo, and his already dominant strength further increased!
But Shibata Katsuie was fighting another more terrifying enemy at this time.
That enemy was Chang's weather in his territory. He began to regret that he had chosen Beizhizhuang City as his home base. The weather here was dry and cold, and supplies and drinking water were inconvenient. The water the soldiers drank every day had to be boiled in a big pot.
It only occurs when ice cubes are burned.
Many soldiers from other places could not bear the harsh climate here. Some became deserters, and some were seriously ill. Suddenly, the number of Shibata's troops dropped sharply! Shibata Katsuie had no choice but to grit his teeth and persevere.
Just when Shibata Katsuie was trapped by the university and unable to send troops, the cunning Kinoshita Tokichiro had already led his elite troops of nearly 20,000 people and quietly entered Oda Nobutaka's Gifu Castle from Oda Nobuo's territory!